Time Bomb
by Onion Bay
Summary: Alice was just having a normal day in the land of Heart, but what will happen when the clocks of the time of wonderland go out of control? Will she encounter the future roleholders or the past roleholders? When will this chaos stop? Julius x Alice.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a request of Julius x Alice from crazy2000! Thank you for the request and I will work hard to keep it up. **

**Summary: Alice was just having a normal day in the land of Heart, but what will happen when the clocks of the time of wonderworld go out of control? Will she encounter the future roleholders or the past roleholders? When will this chaos stop? And ultimately...will she able to go back to where Julius is?**

The smell of the books neatly placed together on the bookshelves. Placing her fingers carefully on each of the book titles, Alice hesitated on her choice. The girl was in the Clock Tower; she was originally looking at Julius' work, but it bore her out and moved to reading literatures. _How The Clocks Work. The Skill in Craftsmanship. How To Tell Time._ The books were all clock related. Usually Alice didn't mind reading any books. The only thing is that she already read these books for a thousand times. She wanted to read a new book; something that would interest her very much. As Alice let her teal eyes move to see each books in descending order, she found a book which had no titles. It was an old book as if it was forgotten to be read for a long time. Curiosity spiked the brunette's interest as she picked the book from the shelf and dusted it off. To not let the pages tear in any accident, Alice gently turned the pages and noticed pictures. _An album. _Unfortunately, the faces in the pictures were not the familiar faces Alice knew. In fact, the pictures were blotched and faded away that Alice couldn't clearly see each of the people's faces. However, the foreigner could vaguely make out some of the familiar characteristic each of them had; animal ears, tails, and other traits. Below each other pictures, there were dates written. 438_ prius since the Break Away. _The weird words confused Alice and further drew her into it as she turned to the man, "Hey Julius is this-."

Ace suddenly opened the door and lively marched into the room, "Hi Alice~ Are you having a lovey dovey time with Julius?"

The girl sighed, "Ace, stop with the teasing. You know that Julius and I are not in that kind of relationship."

The mortician did not look at the visitor and worked his way through the wrecked clock, "Just bring me the damn clock, idiot."

The knight set the bloody package of clocks on the table and swiftly turned to the girl, "Well you can't say that there is nothing going on when a man and a girl is living under the same roof."

Ace, then, grabbed Alice by the wrist and pushed her into Julius' arm, "Kya!"

"W-What are you-!" The couple looked at each other and realized how abnormally close their faces were. The navy blue eyes met the teal eyes as they both felt the gravitational pull to each other. But the girl held herself in control; she couldn't take it. Alice blushed and stood up from Julius' lap as she glared at Ace. The man was equally blushed as he looked away.

The red coated man just laughed and stated in his nonsensical tone, "See you guys are lovey dovey."

Finally not able to take Ace's teasing, Alice yelled, "JUST GET OUT!" Ace just laughed and went out the door. Alice sighed and looked at her roommate, "Geez, Ace's jokes are sometimes too much. We couldn't be really have that kind of relationship…right?" The girl hated Ace's constant teasing of the love jokes between her and Julius. But since this teasing came by so often, Alice could not help, but be a little hopeful. If somebody were to say she was in love, yes she was in love, but it was hopeless. _How could a workaholic like Julius ever love me? _Julius was a kind man, but Alice thought that Julius only saw her as a little girl. It would be troublesome to push her feeling when she already stubbornly forced him to let Alice live in the Clock Tower.

Alice could not see Julius' face; he was looking down at the clocks. The only response Alice got was a Hn.

Feeling the awkwardness building up inside, Alice walked towards the door, "I-I will go take a shower."

After the girl left, Julius sighed and muttered, "This is so troublesome."

Xoxoxoxoxo

"Julius…you really need to get outside. Right. Now."

Julius sighed, "There is no problem with staying here. I hate to go outside."

"Agh! You're gonna grow mushroom if you just sit here until you die! Let's just go to the top of the tower, ok? It's not that far away and I made some sandwiches. So pleeaaasse!" Alice knew using puppy dog eyes and cute pleading was the man's weak point. She used this method when she decided to stay at the Clock Tower.

After giving one strict look at the girl, Julius gave another sigh and agreed, "Fine." Alice smiled in happiness. _Julius is just too kind._

xoxoxoxoxo

"It's so windy today," the wind caused the brunette's soft brown hair to blow in her face as Alice pushed it back to her ear.

Alice was carrying the picnic basket as Julius was holding the blanket and setting it on the ground, "Hm."

Although they were outside, they were still in the Clock Tower. They were on the Tower's roof. Alice guilty looked at Julius, who was silently sitting down and looking at the clouds, "…Are you mad at me?"

Julius glanced at the girl and started nibbling his sandwich and replied, "No, it's a nice change to sometimes go out like this."

Alice smiled; Julius is very kind and gentle, "Julius, that's what I love about you."

Julius turned to Alice with a surprised gesture, "Huh?"

The girl's face instantly turned red, "Oh, um I didn't I mean it's just ah…"

"ALICE!" Julius suddenly jumped towards Alice as she heard a loud crash along with rising dust.

Alice blinked a few seconds and finally screamed as another set of clocks that were hanging as ornaments on the tower fell down, "Aaah!" Julius just hugged Alice fiercely, protecting her from danger.

When the commotion finally died down, Julius sat up and worriedly looked at the girl, "Alice, are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, but w-what happened?"

The blue haired man turned to look at the mess, "Two of the clocks fell down from the tower. This tower has been here for a long time. Guess it's time for repair. I need to hire a carpenter for this. Sorry for making you scared."

Still shocked, Alice could only sit still from the spot that she was in, "…No, it's not your fault. Moreover, thank you for saving me."

"…Yeah." The man's face was serious as if being cautious for an upcoming danger.

xoxoxoxoxo

"Here Julius," the sweet bitter smell of the coffee was set on top of the work desk.

The irresistible lingering aroma made Julius temporarily leave his work and take a sip of the temptation, "Hm."

Alice anxiously and expectantly looked at Julius. "98 points."

A look of disappointment and frustration clouded the hopeful expression, "Ugh, still not 100?"

Julius took a quick look at Alice and smiled awkwardly, "You are getting better. I will be looking forward to the next cup."

The comment lightened the girl's spirit as she smiled cheerfully, "Just wait and see. The next will definitely be the perfect coffee!" Suddenly, a passing thought made the girl ask a question, "…Hey Julius what does 438 prius since the Break Away mean?"

An alarming look had appeared in the once gloomy face as Julius set the coffee down, "…I don't know where you heard that from, but you recently told me that in your world you count the dates in years. On top of that you also know that every time the skies turn from night to afternoon, day to night, and etc. is called time zone correct?"

The brunette nodded her head, "Yeah."

"Well we count dates in prius. 1 prius is equivalent to 1000 time zones. That means it's Break Away is the incident when the territories were first broken apart and started the turf war. Currently we are in 2628 prius since the Break Away."

"I see." _So the album dates back to that far in the past…Julius would definitely not know about that book._

"Anyhow, it's not a knowledge you would need to know, so forget about what I said."

"Alright." As Alice was turning to look at the album again, she noticed she had to do some shopping, "Oh yeah the last coffee beans was gone so I have to buy a new one. Julius, do you have any thing that you want me to buy?"

Julius curtly answered, "No." Then a few moments later, he looked up from his work, "Be careful on your way out."

Alice smiled and went out the door, "I will."

After the girl left, Julius still watched where Alice left and groaned, "What am I doing? Just staring at the door. Get to work." Reaching for the unfinished clock, he noticed something wrong. The clock's handle which were not even supposed to move were turning erratically in full speed.

Julius widened his eyes and watched all the piled clocks go in berserk, "W-what is happening? The clocks are all-."

xoxoxoxoxo

Sighing, the foreigner was trudging down the street, "Julius has lately been very kind and I'm being a little weird too, like I'm not myself. I wonder what's up with me these days, making Julius protect me like I'm just a sitting doll. I can't give Julius anymore burden…" As she took a few more steps, Alice heard a loud murmur from the passing faceless.

They were all looking towards where Alice was coming from, the Clock Tower. Alice turned around to look at the commotion and dropped her jaw, "The Clock Tower? Why is it spinning like that?" The Clock Tower was literally spinning around like a wild merry-go-round.

Looking at the horrible situation, Alice raced towards the tower, "Julius!" _Julius is still in there! _

Suddenly the ground she was standing on shook drastically as Alice fell down. The constant harsh movement pounded the girl's conscious into a dizzy state. Alice tried to scream out Julius' name, but the shaking ground muffled the sound. _Julius…_

xoxoxoxoxoxo

"Hey there is a girl lying around here," a man's voice was heard from somewhere distant.

Another lower toned voice entered as Alice now heard the rustling of the grasses, "Is she dead?"

"Nope I don't think so. She didn't turn into a clock- Wait a minute I think she's a foreigner."

Surprised, the lower voice became louder, "A foreigner? That is interesting. How long have we not seen a foreigner since the last one?"

Alice could feel the brushing of grass as she opened her eyes, "W-where am I?"

"You're in the country of Heart, Ms. Foreigner," the owner of the lower voice was from a handsome dirty blonde man with a black silk hat. The hat was simply fashioned as the suite was light blue with no lavish decoration.

Alice sighed in relief, at least she was not in a different country or world, "And you are…?"

The blonde smiled as he raised his stick towards a bright red haired man with rabbit ears which was similar to Elliot, "I am Junas Dupre. The Mad Hatter and this is my number 2, Kaylus March."

**The summaries are a little different from what I have posted on my profile, but not dramatically (I think). About the dates…I just picked random numbers that seemed reasonable. Hopefully the dates won't confuse you too much.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hehehe, I'm on the verge of dying… I don't even know why I'm updating this chappy when I'm studying for my SEMESETER EXAM! And my first exam is TOMORROW! OAo …I must really luv HnKnA. **

Alice blinked her eyes, "Mad Hatter?" It was weird, the Mad Hatter supposed to be Blood. _Is this guy lying or is there something wrong with his head?_

Junas nodded his head and smiled innocently, "Indeed." His dirty blonde swayed beautifully through the passing wind as his blue eyes stared honestly at her teal eyes. Either he was a crazy guy or a bad liar, Alice knew that he was a roleholder.

"But how can it be? The boss of the Hatter family supposed to be Blood."

Junas and Kaylus blinked and confusedly looked at each other, "Blood? Who's that?"

Alice was still confused with the whole situation, but before she can think any further, she remembered more important matter and grabbed Junas' shirt, "Never mind about that do you know where the Clock Tower is? I need to see the mortician!"

Sensing that it was a desperate favor, Junas immediately replied and led the way, "Sure."

xoxoxoxoxoxo

As they were approaching to the Clock Tower, Alice was relieved that the building was still there. The Clock Tower was not spinning, but something was odd. The foreigner tried to figure out the oddity, but left to think about it later. She was more desperate to see the gloomy Clockmaker. She climbed up the stairs and burst the door open, "Julius!" But as soon as she opened the door, Alice widened her eyes.

Junas and Kaylus followed after the girl and stopped when they noticed that the girl was standing still, "Miss Alice!"

Alice tried to speak, the one man she didn't want to get separated from, "…Ju..lius?" In front of her was a tall slender man with glasses and silver hair. His outfit was similar to Julius' clock patterned suit, but had some different features to it too.

The man turned his head and spoke in a cold monotonous voice, "Who are you?"

_It's ok…maybe Julius is out to get some stuff and this is just a visitor. _Alice inhaled and exhaled as she tried to form a smile. The smile turned out as a failure. She was too afraid that her fear might come true; her fear that Julius has abandoned her. "Um…Hello I am Alice Liddell. Is Julius Monrey here?"

Glancing at Alice, he sat down and grabbed a clock and took out the lid of the cover, "No, I never heard of him before. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to my work."

Alice continued to watch the man work. It was strange. It seemed like this man was doing similar work to Julius. No, he is fixing the clocks. Alice suddenly ran out the door and looked at the Clock Tower from afar. Alice couldn't utter a word, she was too shocked. She figured out the oddity that was nagging at her all this time; the building was too new. By the time Junas and Kaylus caught up to her, the brunette asked, but more to herself, "…What is happening?"

Junas cautiously looked at the shocked girl as he questioned, "Why did you suddenly run off like that?"

After much silence, the foreigner turned to the blonde and asked, "Who was that person just now?"

Letting go of the fact that Alice ignored his question, Junas replied, "He is Maximilian Monrey, the mortician. We all call him Max though."

Alice couldn't understand what is happening. She tried to remember all the possibilities that might have caused this chaos and then one thing clicked her mind, "…Sorry, but what date is it right now?"

The man looked at the girl weirdly, but still answered, "It is 463 prius from the Break Away right now."

"463…?" Alice dropped her jaw. The date was way off from where she previously was. She couldn't understand the logic behind all these chaos. The more she thought about it, the more she became confused. Wonderland always seemed crazy to her, but surely this was beyond crazy, right?

Junas has observed Alice, but he was more curious about the girl's odd behavior. It spiked his interest as he hid his smirk and wore his worried expression, "Miss Alice, are you alright?"

_Did I really go back to the past? _After much contemplation, Alice miserably met Junas' eyes, "I came from 2628 prius…"

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Junas sipped his black tea and smiled, "I understand your situation now Miss Alice. You must have gone through hard time. You may stay here if you like and ask Kaylus or me if you have any troubles." They were in the Hatter's estate. Alice was relieved that the estate was not much different from the one she was used to.

Alice nibbled her last bisket as she stood up from the table and smiled, "Thank you." Although Kaylus was very silent, Junas was very kind and hospitable to her. She felt relieved that Junas was not very similar with the evil jerky Mad Hatter.

The blonde sweetly smiled as he approached to the girl and brought out his hand for a handshake, "Well then as a sign of friendship."

"Huh? WOA!" A gooey and icky feeling filled Alice's hand as she looked at the horrible texture. At first glance the texture looked like mud or something even beyond that which Alice did not want to imagine. She finally calmed down as soon as she realized that it was a normal goo mad out of glue and other materials (who knows what?) she relaxed a little and now heard an unfamiliar hysterical laughter. No, it was familiar, but Alice did not expect this at all.

The Mad Hatter was holding his stomach as he laughed as hard as he can, "I can't believe she actually fell in that trap!"

Immediately dropping the goo on the ground, Alice wiped her hands with a handkerchief which the maid prepared for her, "W-what is this thing?"

"It's goo don't you know? Ah it's so funny." The once charming man has now sneered with mischievous expression as he skipped inside the mansion.

Alice gawked at the sudden change of the Mad Hatter as Kaylus, who was silent all this time, suddenly spoke, "Just to let you know, Alice. Junas has this type of personality so please don't mind."

Looking at Junas to Kaylus, Alice wasn't so sure if she could blend to the sudden change. She reluctantly followed Kaylus in to the mansion, "Uh, ok?"

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Opening the door, Alice stepped out and walked down the hallway. She was originally planning to sneak outside without anyone knowing, but her plan failed as soon as she saw Kaylus in front of the gate, "Kaylus I will be leaving to go to the Clock Tower."

Frowning a little, the bunny eared man questioned, "Why?"

The girl could not help, but feel like she was being interrogated as she sought for ways to get out, "I..just want to see how it changed. If I go there then maybe I will have some clues to get back."

Awkward silence engulfed the two as Alice watched Kaylus move his green eyes from the gate to the mansion and back to the girl. Alice truly could not tell what Kaylus was thinking, but was relieved when he finally answered, "Alright, but be careful it's not so safe outside."

Feeling a little giddy because of the sudden release of tension, Alice smiled and ran to the Clock Tower, "Alright."

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Standing right in front of the Clock Tower, the girl's eyes stared at the familiar, but different building, "It really doesn't look so different." Alice was still not ready to confront the Max; he was different from Julius. He seemed cold on outside and also inside while Alice instantly knew that Julius was a kind man. Gulping the girl was about to climb the tower when she felt weight on her back.

"Ah!"

"H~e~l~l~o~!" A purring lingering voice came from behind as Alice struggled to get away from the stranger's sudden embrace. Noticing that Alice was struggling, the stranger let go of the girl and smiled crookedly. A shocking pink was not something Alice would see on the daily basis, but it was somehow not surprising. Maybe her mind was getting use to the craziness, not that she ever wanted to.

"A-are you by any chance the Chesire cat?" The man had purple hair with purple boa; his pink and black fashion was very similar to Boris, but his gesture was somehow….not normal.

The cat blushed and touched his cheek in embarrassment, "Oh, you know me? Well of course my magnificent beauty attracts both men and women. But that's strange I don't know you at all."

Alice twitched, to describe the "not normal" behavior more in detail this Cheshire cat was more feminine…in a way. It was actually her first time encountering this type of person, the sudden image of the mischievous, but cool Cheshire cat fell instantly, "Uh…no. I don't know you personally just thought that because you had cat ears and tails."

Giggling a little, the cat eared man replied, "Well I am a cat~. But deary, Chesire cats are different from ordinary cats. So where are you going?"

_Deary? _Getting even more awkward, Alice tried to act as if she didn't hear that part, "I'm going to the Clock Tower."

"Sweet cherry pie! I'm going there too! My name is Io how about you, sugar?"

Faking a little laugh, the girl introduced herself, "I'm Alice." Hopefully she will get used to this new Cheshire cat.

Xoxoxoxo

Alice opened the door to Max's room, which had also been Julius' room, "Um…hi."

"Hello," the conversation ended with the man's cold monotonous reply. If this was the first encounter, Julius would have immediately responded with something more than a cold "hello". _Well Max is different from Julius. I knew that._ But Alice couldn't help, but compare the present mortician with past one.

Mentally gulping, Alice smiled cheerfully and introduced herself, "Uh my name is Alice Liddell. Nice to meet you."

Alice waited for the mortician's response, but no matter how much she waited, no reply came back. Max was burying his face on piles of clocks, as he stared intently at the mechanics with his purple eyes. Alice looked at the man in awkwardness, "Um hello? Mister?"

From behind, Io suddenly approached by her ear and whispered softly, "You can't approach him like that. Let me set an example."

Winking to Alice, the cat sneaked beside and attempted to jump on Max, "Maxy~ your dear love has come~"

In this moment, Alice didn't know if she was hallucinating, but her eyes saw Max teleport from the desk all the way to the sofa as Io failed to hug the mortician. Io crashed into the solid floor and moaned in pain as Max spoke in a droning tone, "Don't bother me heterogeneous cat. I have no time to play tricks with you."

Standing up and dusting himself off, Io tried to taunt Max, "Awww, not even a love game?"

A silent response was given as Io finally gave up and sighed, "Fine, but at least talk to Alice for a minute alright?"

He waited for Max's response, but that too was ignored as he skipped out the door and waved at Alice, "Well, bye my sweet love~."

After the door was shut, Max never said anything as Alice just awkwardly sat next to Max and watched him work with the broken clocks. His hand was like magic, adeptly putting his screwdrivers through the screws and wheels. Alice watched, amazed by the skillfully done work, as she smiled sadly remembering how Julius used to fix the clocks. Glancing at the foreigner, Max sighed, "What do you want? And be fast because I don't have much time."

Alice was surprised by the sudden question as she shook her mind away from Julius, "I was thinking if you could help me…"

**Wish me good luck and I will (hopefully) revive next week! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally updated a chapter! Plz enjoy. Haven't done disclaimer for a long time so maybe I should. :P**

**Disclaimer: Onion Bay does not own HnKnA!**

Max examined one of the fixed clocks as he stated, "I got the gist of it." As if he was satisfied with his work, he carefully put the clock into one of the finished baskets and said, "There is a way."

Alice immediately got up from the sofa and widened her eyes, "Really?" Finally a ray of hope lit Alice's desperate situation.

Max calmly explained, "The problem is the clock that you mentioned when you were having a picnic. I don't know if my distant successor ever know of this, but that clock actually is not a display. The clock supposed to manage the time flow of the Wonderland. If you fix that clock then you are able to get back to your previous place."

"Ok!" The cheerful expression soon changed into a confused one as Alice asked, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Well the clock is somewhere in the time flow. The clock should have a golden engraving that says 'Wonder' and 'Land.' Just find the clock that has the engraving." Alice just gave an ok-I-have-no-idea-what you-just said look as Max sighed, "If what you said were true then your time is unstable right now. You may end up in another time period this instant, find that missing clock, and see the future mortician."

"….."

"…."

Everyone waited for something to happen, but nothing happened as Alice awkwardly looked at Max, "And so…. "

Max sighed and walked over to his desk, "I guess you have to wait until you get to meet your lover somehow."

The girl's face instantly turned red and tried to cover her expression from Max, "Lover? Who is the lover?"

With almost a bored expression, Max replied, "It's the future mortician right? I get that you like him."

"W-wha!" Alice was about to say something, but lost her words. It was true that she harbored a feeling that was similar to love, but it was still embarrassing to admit it.

"I have some work to do so please come back again." Alice was pushed out of the room and was now standing outside of the Clock Tower.

Touching her face, Alice could feel the heat and sighed, "Is it so obvious?"

Xoxoxoxoxo

"Thank goodness I made it back to the Hatter's mansion without trouble," it wasn't that Alice was worried about being lost, but she was constantly aware of her surroundings. She tried to look for the missing broken clock, hoping that it would somehow turn out from somewhere. As Alice have expected, she couldn't find any.

She had no idea where to start finding the clock as she spotted a certain rabbit eared man in front of the gateway, "Kaylus?"

Kaylus turned to look at Alice and greeted her quietly, "…Hey."

"What are you doing here?"

"….Watching guard."

Alice saw Kaylus fidgeting, it was really a wonder how his personality was so different from Elliot's, "But isn't that the twins' job?"

"They're still sleeping." Alice stared at Kaylus' awkward manner. Before, she absolutely had no idea what Kaylus was thinking, but perhaps it was different. _Is Kaylus just…timid? _Because of his big build, Alice could not imagine a weak personality such as timid coming from a big man like Kaylus. Observing the constant fiddling with his jacket to his wavering eyes, Alice realized that her prediction was true.

Alice tried to suppress her laughter as she turned around and walked towards her room, "Oh I see well I will just go back inside because I'm tired."

"Wait!" Alice turned around once more to look at the uncomfortable looking man. Kaylus seemed like he had hard time speaking, but still tried his best to speak, "Uh…well I um, can you go meet with Junas for a sec? Um…he wants to have a tea party with you...and ugh you don't really have to go if you don't want to."

Surprisingly, Alice found this manner cute and smiled, "It's alright, I will meet him before I go to sleep, bye." Kaylus just looked at Alice worriedly; he didn't mean to lure her into Junas' evil tea party. He was supposed to tell Alice to not go. After all, nobody wanted to go to his tea party, not even himself.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The wind picked up the sweet smell from the tea party. The blue sky turned dark by the time Alice entered the rose garden. She could see the lights flickering on around the table and greeted the Mad Hatter. "Junas, I'm here- kya!" A banana peel forced Alice to slip and land hard on the ground. Alice groaned in pain, her butt was soar from the fall.

Beside her, Junas held his stomach and laughed, "I only put a banana peel over there and you slipped! I mean who would even fall for that kind of old trap?"

Alce was getting annoyed by the Mad Hatter's constant trickery and narrowed her eyes, "Excuse me, but do you have problems or what?"

Looking at Alice again, Junas burst in laughter, "Of course I do; I mean I am the Mad Hatter!"

_That's true, but….as a person something has to be normal! _Alice sighed, she didn't want to deal with the crazy guy any longer, "Anyways Kaylus told me to come here and meet you, but now I'm over with that so I'm going to sleep bye."

Junas quickly ran up to Alice and grabbed her wrist, "Wait a minute. You can't just sleep right now! The night just started; have some drink and eat some snacks." Alice saw Junas' apologetic smile and sighed. She couldn't refuse Junas' offer, she was free loading in his estate after all.

Alice trudged to take a seat and twitched her eyes, "And you call these snacks." The odor was delicious and sweet, but the appearance was far from edible looking. The cream on the cake which was supposed to be white changed its color into purple-ish blue while there were large chunks of unknown ingredients hidden inside of the half baked sponge cake.

"What, don't you think it looks tasty? I'm the one who cooked it," Alice widened her eyes as Junas ate a huge piece of the cake and ate it deliciously.

Alice coughed and averted her eyes from Junas, "You?"

"Yep, right now my hobby is cooking," Alice sighed again, she didn't know how much she sighed, but she couldn't help it judging from the situation. _Cooking my ass, this looks like he's training to poison someone._

Junas brought a cookie that looked equally disgusting and gave it to Alice, "So you're going to try right?"

Alice gulped at the cookie and desperately tried to find ways to refuse the offer, "um…"

But Junas was not easy on Alice as he smiled innocently, "Right?"

Alice replied in defeat, "Yeah…" _Junas was eating it deliciously. I think it might actually be quite delicious…hopefully… _Alice breathed heavily and ate the cookie in one gulp. Opening her eyes wide and turning her face into a pale blue, Alice staggered to keep herself from throwing up. The taste was dreadful; it was like a mix of monkey guts, rotten fruits, and frog skin. "I…feel like I'm going to puke and faint." Finally, not able to pretend like it was normal, Alice collapsed on the ground and closed her eyes.

Junas watched Alice's reaction excitedly and laughed, "Well not exactly because you're sleeping with me~!" Junas, then, picked Alice up and skipped into his own room.

Xoxoxoxoxo

It was disgusting, absolutely disgusting. Her mouth was filled with tastes that were beyond human food. She was going to have to give Junas a one-on-one cooking lesson so she would not have to deal with his terrible cooking every day. Alice knew her eyes were about to open and sat up to yell at the Mad Hatter, "Junas! I need to speak with you!" But as soon as she opened her eyes, Alice blinked. She was in a building different from the Hatter's mansion. The building resembled to the Clock Tower's hall way. _Did Junas carry me to Max's place? But why? _Something was odd here. She neither saw Junas nor Max. Plus, the building somehow looked old; older than where Max lived. The thought made Alice realize; she was in the Clock Tower, the place where she and Julius lived in. It was hard to believe that she just teleported to the Clock Tower, but she had more important thing to do than just stand there and think. "Which means… Julius!" A sudden image of Julius filled her mind as she dashed everywhere in search for the mortician. "Julius, where are you?" Alice went into Julius' workroom, the only living space in the Clock Tower, and found Julius lying on the floor.

Waking up, Julius groggily tried to focus his blurry sight on the approaching girl, "A…lice?"

Alice was too happy to finally meet Julius as she helped him get up from the ground, "Julius!" She, then, hugged Julius tightly and whispered, "Julius…I missed you."

Julius just softly patted Alice on the head and smiled softly, "Alice, I'm glad that you're safe."

Alice did not want to let go of Julius' coat. When she was separated from Julius, she despaired over the fear that she may never see him again. Meeting Julius was like encountering a miracle. Julius noticed that Alice was not going to let go of him and awkwardly stood there. He was very uncomfortable of the situation, but at the same time he felt the growing need to huddle closer to the girl. The unknown irrational feeling and logic created a major war inside his mind as Julius moved his arms around the air, unable to decide where to put his arms.

By the time Julius' arm was about to wrap around Alice's waist, Alice broke off the hug and questioned innocently, "But what is happening? And somehow I don't feel like we are in Wonderland."

Coughing a few times and trying to get rid of his blush, Julius struggled to act normal and replied, "I don't know either. The clocks were going out of control and I was out of conscious. By the time I woke up you were there right in front of me."

_So Julius was unconscious for the whole day? That's a really long time… he must have hit his head pretty hard. _Julius realized Alice looking at him worriedly and patted her head once more, "Let's look outside."

Alice and Julius walked towards the window and looked outside. The brunette widened her eyes, "What…the.." She was utterly speechless; the Clock Tower itself was floating in an ambiguous blank space. It was similar to where Alice usually came when she fell asleep.

Julius was equally surprised, "Is it perhaps the Dream Realm?"

"So we are stuck here?"

After contemplating, Julius touched Alice's shoulder and ushered her to the sofa, "…Alice let's have a talk."


	4. Chapter 4

**Updated the chapter! Random is Bliss did I make it in time? Hopefully u were able to read this chapter before going to Japan! **

"So we have to fix that clock, right now," Alice gazed at Julius. Her eyes hardened with determination. She had assumed that the clocks were still left at the rooftop of the Clock Tower. She only hoped that the clock was reparable.

Julius just nodded in silence. His eyes looking down at the ground, filled with deep thoughts. Alice just looked at Julius in confusion and opened her mouth to repeat her words. Before she produced any sound, Julius raised his head to meet her eyes and stated, "I don't think we can do that though."

Alice's mouth opened almost immediately, "Why?"

"I knew that the clocks weren't just for decorations so I tried to fix them later, but for some reason when I went back to the rooftop, the broken clocks weren't there," the dark haired man saw the girl's face become pale and gripped his already closed fist tighter.

"Then where did it…" Alice couldn't finish her sentence. Her shock was too great. She could at least be with Julius right now, but that didn't mean she would be able to stay with him forever. The fear of suddenly disappearing right in front of Julius slowly crawled into her mind.

Julius sighed, he didn't want to tell his thoughts to Alice. He couldn't bear to see her sad face again, but it was the most accurate theory he had reached into conclusion, and he needed to tell this before she disappeared, "This is just my theory but the reason why you were in 463 prius is because somewhere in that time there is the missing broken clock. I am somehow stuck in the Dream realm, but I think you're not…you're body is still in that time period."

As Julius had expected, Alice's face distorted and he saw her teal eyes form a tear from the corner of her eye, "Which means that I would be separated with …you?" Her voice trembled and weakened as she finished her sentence.

Julius immediately stood up from his chair and put his arms around the crying girl, "Don't cry. Please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" He was frustrated and angry. Angry at himself that he let Alice cry again. If possible, he wanted Alice to stay by his side forever, but he also knew that it would only make her suffer. He didn't want her to be trapped because of his selfish desire.

"Julius, could you please get away from me? I'm about to die," hearing these words, Julius realized that his body was pressed against Alice's small, petite body in adhesion. He could feel her soft skin against his hard, cold one. The mortician felt his face become and hot and awkwardly broke the embrace.

Julius coughed a few times to hide his blush. At the same time, Alice breathed in deeply to suck in the cool air, "…Didn't we have this kind of situation before?"

The man stammered in reply, he wasn't back to his usual self yet, "That was because you were crying like no tomorrow! …Just because I suggested you to live somewhere else…"

"What! Does that mean you don't want me to be around? That's mean, Julius!"

Julius saw another glint of tear in Alice's eyes as he desperately tried to find ways to explain to her without making her cry, "No I didn't mean that! What I wanted to say is that…well…"

Alice blinked and looked at the man whose face was turning redder by the second, "What?"

Julius closed his eyes and brought his hands to his forehead and shouted, "I-I don't want you to go anywhere else!" A long silence filled the air. Alice didn't know how to react to Julius' remark. She wasn't expecting the usually calm gloomy man to suddenly shout those romantic words to her.

Alice's eyes curiously looked at Julius' embarrassed state and felt her heart overwhelm with glee. The emotions, which she used to try and hide from Julius, banged on her conscious to get out, "Julius, I need to tell you something. I actually-." In an instant, her visions blurred and turned black. She could only hear Julius shouting her name in the distance. The brunette struggled to move towards the voice, but felt her body become limp. She needed to tell Julius that she loved him. She didn't want to leave him, never.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

The foreigner woke up and noticed tears coming from her eyes, "I'm…back?" Back to 463 prius. Separated from Julius again. She felt awful, not just because she had a horrible headache, but she couldn't see Julius anymore. She didn't even know if she could see Julius again. Maybe the meeting was all just a dream, created by her lonesome desire. Alice touched her arms, making it look like she was hugging herself. She was trying to feel the warmth that she felt when Julius last touched her, but no matter how hard she tried, she didn't feel the man's presence. It was no use; she needed to believe in Julius and move on.

Alice finally realized that she was in a room, different from her assigned one. _But why am I sleeping here? This isn't even my room… _She vaguely remembered having tea with Junas and knocking out by the horrible taste of the sweets, the Mad Hatter made her eat. The girl sat up from the bed and looked at the door, which was right in front of her. _Do people faint just because they ate bad food? _Alice had slight suspicion that this was all part of Junas' plan to harass her. Although she didn't know what Junas was planning, she needed to get out of the room now. Alice stood up and the left the bed. She put her hand on the door knob and turned it.

"BOO!" As soon as Alice opened the door, the Mad Hatter stuck his head out and shouted in her ear.

The foreigner jumped at the sudden noise, but soon composed her face. She was used to Junas' prank and could handle minor teasing, "What are you doing, Junas?"

Unsatisfied with Alice's reaction, he walked behind Alice and touched her shoulders, "No-thing. Just coming to visit the girl who slept with me last night." With fingers slithering like a snake, his touch shifted from her shoulder to her neck.

Alice blushed and stuttered at the statement, "W-what the-."

Junas grinned playfully and took his hand away from the girl and rushed to walk ahead of her, "Just kidding! We didn't do anything last night! Did that make you panic?"

Alice sighed, "Whatever, just get away from me. I need to do something today."

The blonde haired man just chuckled, entertained by the girl's every action, "What do you need to do?"

Hesitating to answer at first, Alice finally replied, "I'm trying to find something…a broken clock."

Junas just gave a bored look at Alice, "Well there are tons of broke clocks at Max's place." He was clearly not interested in what Alice was going to do.

Still, Alice explained to Junas furthermore, hoping that he might have some clue to where the clock is, "It's a special kind of clock; it has the engraving of either 'Wonder' or 'Land'."

Junas turned around and walked away and spoke with apathy, "Huh, well good luck." Alice just watched Junas' back fading into the long hallway and sighed. Junas seemed as though he didn't know where the clock was. Although Alice knew that it was not easy to find a single clock in a world where clocks where frequently used, she had to find it so that she can go back to her time and meet Julius again.

"I have listened to your little sweet talk back there, sugar," Alice jumped at Io's sudden entrance.

"I-Io?"

The man with the purple boa grinned widely, perfect for a Chesire Cat. He playfully twirled his cat tail and leaned his body towards Alice, "You look really happy to see me. But of course everyone would be happy to see me because I am the most beautiful, seductive, and attractive cat you ever saw."

Alice leaned back from Io's advance and faked laughed, "Hahaha um…so what are you doing here?"

Io stepped back a little and aimlessly skipped with non-rhythmical steps around the girl, "I actually saw a broken clock and thought that maybe I should help you out."

Alice widened her eyes and franticly grasped his arms, "Really? Where?"

Io licked his lips and shook away Alice's grasp. Instead, he took the brunette's wrist and led her to one of the doors, "It's in Junas' treasure room."

Gulping, she knew what Io meant. She needed to do this secretly without Junas and other Hatter residence knowing. Even if she was a guest, there was no guarantee that she could safely get out a live from the mafia territory, if she stole one of their belongings. Alice nervously looked at the Chesire cat looking at her with his mischievous gold eyes, "Does that mean…I have to break into the mafia boss' treasure room to get the clock?"

"Yep, got scared cutey?"

Alice took a deep breath, throwing her unnecessary worries and fears aside. She met Io's eyes with fortitude and courage, "No, I'm prepared to die so lead the way."

Io's grin widened even more, making Alice have thoughts whether his cheeks become sore or not. Clapping his hand, he exclaimed in almost a thrill, "That's the spirit!" She couldn't afford to miss this chance. She had to hurry and find the missing clock. She couldn't wait to see Julius and get back to her usual days.

**Now I have to hurry and get back on Lizard Assassin! Haven't update that for a long time… -_-**


	5. Chapter 5

**Cassandra Airay: sorry for the late reply. Answering your question, I did make up the character's name. Some of the names were borrowed from manga or other story (ex: Junas from Psyren, Maximilian from Kurobara Alice) **

Io turned to the door and touched the doorknob, "Well then, you know the special ability for being the Chesire cat, right?" He bowed his head as if he was escorting a lady from a high class, leading her down to the abyss.

Of course Alice knew the Chesire cat's special ability. They could choose any door they want and take them to anywhere they desired. She remembered Boris proudly perform it a while back. He tried to convince her how convenient it is to actually have Chesire cat as a pet. Stepping into the unknown, Alice entered the room. There, thousands of gold, precious silver, and other fine objects scattered on the ground. From just a glance, Alice knew that this was Junas' treasure room. She immediately jumped to hug Io, "I really am grateful for having an awesome friend like you!" She knew she wouldn't be able to enter Junas' treasure room if it was just her. It was all thanks to Io that she could narrow down her search.

The cat laughed and hugged back, "Of course because I am the most attractive, beautiful, and gorgeous cat in the world!" Alice cracked a smile. Despite the weird behavior, so far, she liked Io the best among all the roleholders in this time period.

Breaking the hug, Alice turned around once more to take a good look at the treasure room. There were piles of objects that it was impossible to spot the clock with just a mere glance, "So…now that we entered in Junas' treasure room… How am I supposed to find the clock?"

Io playfully skipped back to the door, "That's your problem. Well I can't stay here for too long so bye sweetheart." He winked at Alice and closed the door behind him.

The brunette just looked at the closed door and turned to look at the scattered objects lying beside her feet. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hands in determination, "Well I have to get to work." Quickly crouching down to look for the object, she needed to find the clock fast. She didn't want Junas to be coming in and accuse her of stealing his treasure. The punishment will obviously be death. The image of her lifeless body sent down shivers to her spine as Alice rummaged through the items.

"Are you perhaps looking for this, Alice?" A gold clock with the engraving 'Wonder' twinkled in the girl's teal eyes.

"That's it!" Immediately standing up, she ran towards the golden treasure and just when she reached over to touch the clock, she stopped midway. Slowly, she raised her head and looked at Junas smiling down at her. _Crap! I'm gonna be killed!_

Alice scrambled to get away from Junas, but it was no use. The door was guarded by him and it was impossible to escape. The blonde man, having a smile of a devil, toyed with the chain on the clock, "You didn't think that I will give this to you free, right?" The small clinking sound of metal made Alice get nervous. Who knew when Junas would just take out a gun and kill her?

She was scared, her heart thumped fast and her eyes indefinitely traveled from Junas to the clock. She wanted to get away, scream for her life, but she also needed to get the clock. She was not going to give up on it. For the sake of Julius, it was impossible. "….No, I guess not. But I really want that thing you're holding. Tell me; what do I have to do for you to give me that clock?"

Continuing to fiddle around with the clock, the man's blue eyes reflected the shape of a nervous girl, "Hm, what should I do?" After twirling the chains, he suddenly stopped his hand and plastered an evil smile, "I know! If you can put up with all of my pranks, not cry, and run away until 24 time periods then I will give this clock to you."

Alice could feel her face paling. She couldn't imagine what kind of hell she was going to face, but she couldn't afford to refuse the deal. Closing her eyes, she reminisce a certain mortician and felt her mouth naturally slip away, "I will accept."

Junas immediately put the clock in his pocket. As if he was a Chesire cat, he couldn't stop his grin. This will be a very interesting game; a perfect way to pass his boredom. Opening the door behind him, he jubilantly skipped out, "Alright; prepare yourself because if you lose then you will stay in this mansion forever."

"What?" It was better than death, but the thought of separating with Julius made her feel like a dead person. She definitely had to win, no matter what.

"The game will start now, bye!"

The foreigner just watched Junas run in anticipation and sighed, "I'm gonna have 24 time periods of hell…"

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Staggering through the hallway, Alice was covered in cake creams, some few bugs crawling around her clothes, and mud. The desperate need for a warm shower and sleep was almost overwhelming that she was itching for it. She couldn't take the pranks any longer; it was just too much for an ordinary girl to bear.

_Carefully moving the muscle one by one, her eyes flickered to all directions. Even making a single step took another undivided attention, for it was a necessary precaution against the pranks of the Mad Hatter. After checking every possible direction and confirmed that it was a safe route, Alice finally stepped out to the hallway, "I have to watch out for Junas. I don't know what he might do to me."_

_Walking gingerly through the long, endless passage, Alice jumped at the sudden voice of the devil, "Hey Alice~" Her sights were covered full with a shade of red and crushing scent of roses. The smell was so strong that Alice needed to take a step._

"_Junas!" As soon as she stepped back, her feet caught a slippery feeling and forced her to look at the ceiling. Her feet were no longer on the ground and she lost full balance. The feeling of gravity pulling her back made her realize she was falling. She only could make out a scream and soon the short feeling of floating ended. Alice shut her eyes for the impact of her whole body banging on the hard floor, but, instead, she felt a mush of something sticky on her back. Sitting up from the ground and turning to look at the mysterious feeling on her back, she saw soft white cream spreading all over her clothes. Bits and pieces of sponge bread were stuck along with the thick frosting as a frown grew on the girl's lip. She landed on a cake; it was a total waste. _

_Junas made a gesture to wipe his invisible sweat and smirked, "Phew, good thing there was a cake to cushion you. If I didn't prepare that cake for you, you would have hit hard on the ground again."_

_Looking at the ruined cake and then to a soap that was on the ground, Alice eyed the man accusingly, "So this cake and even this large piece of soap is your doing, huh Junas." Maids were coming towards Alice and Junas with a mop and a bucket of water. They were ready to clean the mess which the arrogant mafia boss created._

_Junas just shrugged nonchalantly, "Well what did you expect? That a purple monkey was the culprit of this whole prank?"_

"_Well so cunning of you to put the soap under the mat to camouflage it," Alice stood up from the ground and apologetically smiled at the faceless maids. In response, the maids just smiled pleasantly as if saying that they didn't mind at all. _

"_I'm more surprised that you didn't notice it, Alice."_

_This statement completely ticked Alice off. "It's because you were distracting me!" She was certain that if not for the rose which was used as a distraction for the prank to succeed, she would have easily avoided the obvious trap. Falling down from stepping on a soap was too clichéd and obsolete that it was not a funny idea anymore._

_After chuckling for a short while, Junas smiled apologetically, "Alright, sorry about that. I shouldn't have done that kind of a harsh prank on a girl." He, then, brought a bouquet of rose and shoved it in the girl's face, "So as compensation, here you go." The strong flowery aroma filled her nostrils and it was almost suffocating to breath. Despite this, Alice relaxed a little knowing that Junas had apologized._

_She received the flowers and examined the beauty in awe, "A bouquet of rose?" Each rose petal was filled with vibrant red colors shaped carefully as a living sculpture. Alice remembered the beautiful rose in Blood and Vivaldi's garden; they were also beautiful._

_Junas approached to Alice and picked up a cream on her hair and dropped it on the roses, "Yes beautiful roses each nurtured and blossomed with utmost care, but no matter how perfect they look you can't ignore the flaw."_

_Alice questioningly looked at Junas' action and opened her mouth, "What are you- WHAT THE?" Emerging from the beautiful bouquet of roses, thousands of ants, roaches, and other insects crawled around the lump of sugar and completely devoured it. Watching this horrifying scene, Alice immediately dropped the bouquet and stepped back a few feet. She frantically flicked off the bugs which were already crawling on top of her arms, heading for the delicious treat on her back._

_Laughing boisterously, the Mad Hatter took out a box and opened it while exclaiming in exhilaration, "Here I will give more if you want!" Another army of insects came out from the box and headed towards the alluring sweet smell, the squashed cake on Alice's back. _

_Screaming in a few octaves high, Alice brushed off the insect and turned to Junas with eyes full of anger. She wanted to kill the man, images of her fist pounding and completely destroying the handsome face replayed countless times in the girl's head as she shrieked, " F*** JUNAS!"_

_Holding his stomach, the man hit the wall behind him. He couldn't contain his laugh and was shaking out of control, "Hahaha, this is only the beginning, Alice!" The gritting of teeth and the raging stare only made Junas chortle in amusement. He, then, rhythmically walked away from her, satisfaction written all over his face._

_Alice just glared at the crazy man and sighed heavily, "Anyways, I have to clean up. Because of him I have bugs and cake cream all over my body." She strode to the bathroom at a fast pace; she needed to get the bugs off of her right now._

_The moment she opened the door to the bathroom and stepped inside, she was greeted with brown liquid, "….and mud." Alice tried to calm her temper, she knew that this too was Junas' doing. After all, she did agree on the deal. Letting out a heavy sigh, Alice took off her dirty clothes and wrapped the towel around her naked body, "Whatever, I'm going to take a bath anyways!" Sliding the bathroom door, her teal eyes blinked, reflecting a certain blonde man._

_Soaked with bath water, Junas was holding the plug for the bathtub drainage and spoke in a casual tone, "Oh sorry Alice, I just drained the bath tub water."_

_Alice's mind was currently having a breakdown from the sudden shock, not because of the bathwater drainage, but because of the fact that a guy was in the bathroom with a naked girl. Her pale face instantly turned bright red as Alice clutched her towel and tried to cover more of her exposed parts of the body, "AAAAH! Junas! Get out of here now!"_

_Placing a perfect innocent smile, the young man moved his eye furtively in an erotic manner, making Alice more conscious of her body. "What? Just because I saw you naked doesn't mean anything to me. Plus, you're wearing that towel around your body. Doesn't that make the towel dirty? Why don't you take it away?"_

_No longer able to take the humiliation, Alice kicked Junas out of the bathroom, "JUST SHUT UP AND GET OUT!" She quickly shut the door behind her and frustratingly leaned her head on her knees._

Knocking on one of the doors, Alice pleadingly looked at the buff man, "….Kaylus."

Surprised at Alice's disheveled state, Kaylus struggled to choose words which would not hurt a girl's feeling, "W-What happened, Alice? You look um…well uh…"

Unfortunately, Alice was already in a bad mood and she was getting crankier as seconds ticked by, "I got pranked by Junas. Do you have a spare bathroom that I can use?"

Nodding, Kaylus closed the door behind him and escorted her down the hallway, "Sure…I will take you there."

Forcing a smile in her dour expression, Alice followed Kaylus and uttered, "Thank you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the waiting! Here is chapter 6! And some new characters will be coming out.**

Walking around the hallway in a steadfast pace, Kaylus' eyes were glued to the door; the door that led to the shower room. The nervous tension in his throat made him inevitable to take a huge gulp as his brown, milk cocoa colored ear moved restlessly. The splashing of the water and the scrubbing of the white, soft skin, all could be heard through the door and to his keen hearings. He should have already left the spot and retreated back to his office as he usually does. He would have done so if not for the earnest pleading from Alice. It was his nature to accept any requests.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Kaylus sank down to the ground, "What am I doing here…."

"Certainly, what are YOU doing here?" The blonde man stood a few feet away from Kaylus. Holding a bucket full of lizards, Junas glared at his subordinate in suspicion.

"Boss well this is um…." He couldn't really tell Junas that he actually was pleaded to look out for his own boss. Trying hard to think of an alternative excuse, Kaylus spoke hardly in sentences.

The boss just shook his head and looked at him with slandering eyes. He, then, walked towards the door to the shower room, leading him to push Kaylus out of the way, "Move out of the way, I have some business with Alice."

Instantly turning his face bright red, the number 2 dashed towards the door; rejecting Junas' entrance, "She is …uh currently taking a um….shower…."

Junas scoffed and looked at the rabbit eared man as if he was an idiot, "I know that already! I can perfectly hear the water running."

Kaylus nervously shifted his eyes from Junas to the bucket full of slimy creatures, "W-what are you…going to do with that lizard…?"

"I'm going to throw it in her bathtub. It's none of your business so get lost!" Junas finally roughly pushed over his second and obtained the freedom to turn the door knob.

Kaylus stood there with a dark face and spoke softly, "…..is this all because of Mirea?"

Stopping his movements, an ominous voice echoed the area, "What did you say?"

The man felt a shiver from the sudden pressure and unsuccessfully tried to suppress his tremble, "Are you bothering Alice because you are comparing her with Mirea?"

Gritting his teeth, the arrogant mafia boss flung the basket towards the timid man and bellowed, "Why do I have to compare that b**** with Alice? Now don't ever speak of that name or I will kill you!" The sluggish slippery feeling of the little reptiles made Kaylus take a few steps back in surprise and fear. He turned mute and avoided looking at Junas' eyes. He was not going to venture anymore into the landmine; he surrendered.

The boss tried to calm his temper; he noticed the white flag in Kaylus' expression and also fell silent. Finally feeling refreshed and clean, Alice came out of the shower. In good mood, she turned the door knob, "Kalyus what happened it's pretty noi-" Blinking, she saw her companion filled with lizards squirming wildly. Finally she looked at Junas and comprehended the situation. She hurried over to Kaylus' side and glared at the culprit, "Kaylus? What happened to you?"

The victim smiled in relief, "Alice…."

The situation was vexing to Junas. It made himself look like the villain. He grudgingly glowered at Kaylus, but directed his speech towards Alice, "This totally ruined my mood. Don't think this is over." With this, he turned around and stomped back to his own room.

Alice watched him walk down the hallway and soon turned to the other man and smiled softly, "Kaylus, you should take a shower, and then let's talk."

With a weak nod, Kaylus replied, "Yeah…..sorry Alice."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

After taking a nice shower and settling down comfortably in Kaylus' room, Alice looked at him and inquired a question which was bothering her all this time, "So will you tell me what is going on?"

Kaylus, who was drinking his carrot juice, stopped what he was doing and set his drink on the table. He did not want to talk about this when he was just threatened by Junas. Still, his weak nature made him feel obligated to tell Alice, "Uh…..how should I start? Well um….there was another foreigner before you; her name was Mirea." He paused to spare a glance at Alice, hoping his talk was too boring to make her feel unnecessary to listen and thus he would not have the need to talk, but the intent gaze crushed all his helpless wish and went back to talking.

_Mirea stomped through the thick woods in quite a temper. Her aura made any animal standing near her run in fear and her angry footsteps killed any plants. Finally, she tripped on a piece of rock and Mirea fell over in misery, "Ugh! What the heck is this darn place! I only see trees! I was playing chess with my brother and in a blink of an eye I'm here in a place of nowhere." 'Now it wouldn't be as half bad if there were some hot guys around.' Just as she thought of this, she noticed a rustle from one of the bushes nearby and turned to look._

_Junas was equally surprised by the sudden encounter of a foreigner and smiled charmingly, "Excuse me Miss, are you, by in any chance, lost?"_

_Mesmerized by the attractive pheromone, Mirea eagerly stepped forward and took his hand, "God yes, I'm lost, but I finally found my love so take me away!" Her eyes were full of infatuation and her mind spun in a different direction, 'I don't care where the hell this place is, but it's better than spending time with my ugly stinkin' brother! I'm gonna stay here for an eternity!'_

_Dumbfounded by the abrupt confession, Junas opened his mouth blankly and then soon laughed, "This is actually my first time being confessed like this! You're pretty interesting! I fell in love with you too!"_

"And this is how Mirea and Junas fell in love. But Junas couldn't hide his true nature and Mirea finally couldn't take Junas' pranks and left him. It must have really hurt him when he realized that Mirea abandoned him," tears were forming from his eyes as Kaylus gently wiped them and turned to Alice, expecting her to be a confidante. "Don't you think so? Alice-" These expectations slowly fell apart when he saw Alice's cold expression.

"That's all?"

"Wha-"

Bitter feelings of anger and resentment boiled inside the girl's mind as she annoyingly opened her mouth once more, "I am saying is that all the reason why Junas is giving me hell? Because of his stupid love drama with a girl?"

"Um….well yeah…"

Alice narrowed her eyes in to slits and grinded her teeth without control. _The hell is with that stupid story! What is this? A soap opera? And a very silly one too! _She felt offended by the ridiculous story between Junas and Mirea. Love was supposed to be deep and tender; not carefree. It almost felt like they were mocking Julius and her relationship… Alice shook her head in denial; it was not the time to be thinking about Julius. She, soon, turned to the door and walked herself out from Kaylus's room, "Great, just great. I think my head-ache is getting worse. I'm going to sleep."

"Ah, wait Alice-" The man tried to think of what he had done wrong and uneasily sought of ways to try and amend it, but was cut off by the slamming of the door and shut his mouth in fear.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A creaking sound escaped softly from the door. A brownish golden hair stuck out from it and quietly approached to the bed. He was armed with a can of whip cream and looked down to see the sleeping girl. He was supposed to be having fun, but somehow his mood was not as cheerful as he wanted to be. _Damn….It's all because of what that idiot Kaylus said. _Mirea was the first girl Junas ever took an interest in. Her unique cheerfulness and creativeness fascinated his teasing nature. "Mirea…" He uttered, but said no more. His resolve was absolute; Mirea was a b**** and he would never pay attention to the likes of that woman.

He now had his focus on Alice. It was a pity that this girl was a foreigner like Mirea. From the moment he saw Alice, his bitter memory of his past lover took over his mind. It was all the foreigners' fault and one of them will be punished for this. His hand was on Alice's neck; if he put just a little more pressure, her delicate neck bone will snap and it will be an instant death for her. The steady deep pulse passed through Junas' hand. His unemotional blue eyes were fixed on her easy breathing. He could hear his clock ticking like an hour of death calling for its last moment.

Just when he was about to make up his mind he saw a glimpse of shine on the brunette's cheek. The tear was reflecting the moonlight and ran down like a shooting star. Seeing this, Junas' hand shifted from Alice's neck to her cheek. He carefully wiped the tear away from her face and silently walked away.

Closing the door, Junas just there in front of Alice's room and sighed. He blankly stared at the ground until he heard children's laughter coming from the other side of the hallway. A boy with a tattoo of a blue spade used his hands to raise his cheek to form a smile, "Look I can see a Boss with a smile!" His platinum blonde was tied up matching well with his dark navy blue suits with a blue bow tie.

The twin girl giggled and denied her other half, "That's a lie; I can see him with an angry face." Her hair barely touched her shoulder as she had a similar tattoo and bow tie with a color of deep blush. The delicate frill accented her mini skirt.

Junas tried to ignore the twins as he began to walk away from Alice's room, "….What do you want? I'm not in the mood of playing with you guys."

Still smiling, the girl exclaimed and pretended as if she was hurt, "What~! We came here to comfort poor, poor Boss, who just got his heartbroken by a hazelnut!"

The boy looked at Alice's room and snickered, "No, no, that's not it Boss is actually elated because he found a new pumpkin pie to replace the hazelnut."

Junas was completely aware of what the twins were alluding to and he was not in the mood to taking on the silliness, "Arg~! Leo! Lillia! Could you not bother me for a sec? I'm going to sleep!" Shouting this, he whipped his head away from the children and hurriedly stomped away.

Watching their boss getting smaller in the dark hallway, Leo puffed his cheek in disappointment, "That's so~ boring. Might as well shoot him down with my toy car so we would get some worth of entertainment."

Lillia rested her hand on her chin, showing a thoughtful gaze, and replied, "I would rather crush him with my new magical wand, but that aside, it's interesting. It's rare to see Boss all down like that! We have to see Kaylus and tell us every detail; he is our friendly slave, after all."

Leo nodded his head ecstatically, "Yeah let's go! He is our loyal slave anyways!" With this decided, they raced towards Kaylus' room.

**Hello, hello! ^^ The twins finally appeared after what? Five chapters or so? Hahaha my story progresses really slowly. I first thought that maybe I should name the twins Elias and Elle, but changed my mind with Leo and Lillia. The L name fitted with the image better than the E. **


	7. Chapter 7

**My goal was to finish this before my school started T^T damn…I couldn't. Why must homework and other activities get in my way from my free time? I'm just glad that it's weekend right now.**

The blurry figure of blue soon turned into a familiar looking man as Alice's vision became clearer. She could feel the sturdy arms supporting her back and leg. Realizing that she was being carried in a bridal style; for a second, her mind was in a state of panic, but was too exhausted to move around. Alice tiredly looked at the man, "Julius…"

Hearing the voice, Julius immediately looked down to see Alice. His worried expression soon relaxed, "Good you have woken up. Last time, you suddenly disappeared so I was….." He gradually fell silent and tried to look at the direction Alice was looking at. His arms embracing her back and arm. Seeing this, he quickly walked over to the bed and released her, "Erm, this well… you were lying on the ground so I was trying to put you in the bed."

His awkward explanation and unsettling look both made Alice smile. Just by looking at him, all her depression and fatigue seem to go away, "Julius….I'm glad to see you."

Giving an expression as if he noticed something, he spoke in a worried tone, "….You don't look very well. Did something happen?"

The statement made her remember about Junas and sighed, "Some hectic stuff did occur, but it's all in a tolerable level."

"Don't over exert yourself. You're too weak and skinny as a toothpick to spare for another."

Alice blinked and waited for a minute to speak, "I can't believe that I hear that line from you!"

"Shut up," quickly turning his head away from Alice, Julius walked over to the kitchen. She could smell the bitter flavor of the coffee. Just by smelling the scent made her relax, no more disgusting octopus tea and other unimaginable foods.

She could see him walking up to her with two cups. Setting the cups on the table, Julius picked up the milk and poured into one of the cups. The black surface swirled with a mix of white. Two blocks of sugar was added in as the spoon made drastic motion to melt the crystal away. The coffee gradually turned into a chocolate brown as he handed her the perfectly made coffee. Savoring the delicious aroma, she looked at the cup with glazy eyes. Julius preferred the black coffee, but Alice was a sweet tooth. "I didn't know you knew about my taste."

Julius sipped his drink and replied, "It's only natural when we are living under the same roof."

"I guess so," the foreigner chuckled. It was comfortable being with Julius. It felt like having a sweet home which she never really had before. _Save for Lorina nee-san. _Lorina was her only heartwarming family member. At first, Alice wanted to go back to her own world to be with her sister, but now Julius was by her side. He was more than just a family member. To her, he was her most precious person. It just suddenly happened without her realizing it. Her first impression of the mortician was gloomy and depressing, but as she spent more time with him her view as well as her feelings towards him changed; from a good friend to a family member and then to her most important person. She felt bad that she would have to leave her sister behind, but that would be the price to pay for seeking something more. After all, it was her choice to stay in Wonderland, but as soon as she made this choice another trouble came. _One thing comes after another…._ It was like God was constantly destroying her peace. Even without these troubles, she had no confidence of her love blossoming.

"It's you're bad habit you know."

"Huh?" Alice looked up from the ground to Julius taking his last sip of coffee and setting it on the table.

"You always put the burden on yourself and never say the important stuff to me. If you want to say something, spill it," his frowning face and deep blue eyes stared straight into Alice. Slowly her shut mouth began to open and words formed out of her mouth. She didn't want to trouble and make him worry over nothing, but something made the brunette change her mind.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

Gripping his fist as hard as he can, the teeth bared into an obvious scowl, "That bastard…."

Alice nervously looked at the man with a foul mood, "Um, Julius?"

He wanted to pound his fist against the table; no, that wasn't enough, "If I was in that period I would have gave him at least a punch. No, it would have been easier to just kill that guy instead of agreeing with that ridiculous game. To think that he even slept with you…" His antics stopped and soon turned red, "I-I get the meaning that it's not really like 'sleeping with another man' but just 'sleeping in the bed' ok? So relax, I know the difference!" A moment awkward silence lasted and a small sigh was heard from the man. _I got so lost into the thought of punching that guy's face, it's not even my nature to rant like this._ As soon as he sighed, he heard a laughter coming from the girl. His mood was not the best as he looked at her with a grimace, "What?"

Alice still grinned, "No, nothing it's just that I see you worrying so much about me. It makes me happy…" To be honest, she didn't even think that Julius would be thinking this much for her. She always saw him working with the clocks and thought that she was just a bother. Julius thinking about her; just the idea made her happy. _If only this lasted forever… _She knew she would have to go back to the past again. It was good that she could see Julius while she was in the dream realm, but she didn't know how long this condition would last. She has to face hell in order to retrieve the clock, to be with Julius. Failure wasn't in her option. Never. Suddenly, Julius embraced her and she could still smell the scent of the coffee beans on his clothes, "W-Wha- Julius?"

He replied in an unusually kind tone, "Don't worry I won't try to hug you to death or anything." A gentle hand softly patted her small head, "Sorry that you have to burden yourself with these tasks. It must have been hard on you."

Alice just stood there, feeling the hands slowly combing through her hair. She didn't know what to say. She never thought that she was overstressing herself. It was simply a task she must do. She put her hand where Julius' clock was. The clock ticked meticulously without fail. Suddenly, something aroused deep inside her and moisture invaded the teal eyes, "What are you saying? I'm totally….fine and… hic… I won't lose just because….of some nasty pranks." It was stupid to cry. All this time, Alice never dared to cry in front of anyone, but why is it that she cries so easily in front of Julius?

The man silently listened to Alice's cry as he soothingly ran his hand through her chestnut colored hair.

xoxoxoxoxo

It was shameful. Julius blamed for his powerlessness in this current situation. He couldn't stand to see Alice cry and more over suffer because of a bastard playing a brainless game. Julius did his best to suppress his strength in her grip. Whenever Julius saw her cry, it was almost like his clock was about to burst. The feeling was so excruciating that he had to do something. He wanted to do something, anything that would take away this pain and Alice's tears. _If I was able to do something! _

"Julius?"

The clockmaker's head shot down and at the same time he broke the embrace that was holding them together, "Huh? What?"

"I've been calling you for several times already. Were you thinking about something important?"

Julius straightened his coat and curtly replied, "Nothing much."

"Hm, well um…sorry about the ugly face I had to make and thanks," a tint of pink colored the white cheeks as Alice's eyes quickly averted embarrassingly.

Julius felt his clock tick a little faster as he coughed to remind himself. _Act naturally. Why am I feeling so nervous around her? _"W-well this whole incident is partially my fault so I feel responsible. It's mortifying to let a girl do all the work while I just stand here and do nothing."

The mid-high soprano chuckled in arrhythmic manner. Alice widened her smile and spoke playfully, "Right, don't worry in any time I will save Wonderland from its biggest crisis."

Although he knew that she was just playing around, Julius' serious nature couldn't ignore the possible meaning behind those words, "I said you don't have to do put more burdens on yourself. Wonderland is not a safe place. What if someone in that time period tries to attack you?"

Still in her cheerful mood, she raised her right arm and formed a fist to pump her small muscle, "If it comes to that I will use my self defense that I learned a little from Elliot. He showed me how to use a gun a little. It's still a little scary though."

The thought of Elliot being with Alice left a bitter taste in his mouth. Moreover, letting her wield a gun was absolutely unacceptable. _What is that idiot bunny thinking? Exposing her to such danger… _Narrowing his eyes, his cold deep blue gazed straight at the foreigner and muttered, "Elliot huh…."

"Wha- Julius?" Her eyes were full of surprise and shock as the man advance towards her in a quick speed. She was pushed to the corner and her wrists were held by Julius' strong grip. His long blue hair hung over to her shoulder and his face slowly leaned over by her ear.

A soft yet strong voice vibrated and tickled through her ear, "You have no idea what a full grown man can do to you, Alice."

Julius' eyes were as if a hungry beast waiting for the right time to plunge into its meal. It was unbelievable for him to act in this way. It wasn't Julius' nature. Her confusion increased evermore and her logic told her to run away, but somehow she couldn't move. Her mind was captured by the reverberating addicting voice invading and destroying every sense of reason she had. "He can easily hold you into place and do whatever he wants." She didn't care if Julius decided to kill her, she just wanted for this moment to last longer.

The cold eyes slowly melted away and returned to the awkward gaze he just had a few minutes ago, "…Can't you resist a little?"

Alice's hands were quickly released and her whole body relaxed from the tension, "Huh? Oh yeah….sorry."

Stepping back to distance him from her, Julius spoke in an unnatural manner, "Well anyways, just keep in mind of not overstressing yourself and don't even think about using a gun."

Still dreaming about what happened a few minutes ago, Alice replied shakily, "O-ok." Meeting Julius' eyes the couple soon turned they heads away from each other and an awkward silence filled the room.

After a while, Alice slowly looked at the man in front of her and fidgeted. She never thought that Julius would mind her so much as to act like that. It was not in her nature to take a risk, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. Inhaling, her voice trembled, "Hey…Julius."

He quickly turned to face Alice and asked nervously, "What?"

The blood was rushing into her face and creating a brilliant red and her trembling voice worsened, "What if…what if I said that I liked…." Her heart was pumping drastically creating a nervous tension from all over her body. The open mouth shut immediately and her eyes were squeezed tight. _No! I-I just can't confess like this! _Before finishing her sentence, Alice raced to the door and left the room with a hasty explanation, "U-uh sorry. I-I will um…go use the restroom!"

Closing the door with a bang, Julius stood in the room and soon sank down in a squat. He covered his blushed face and tried to calm his frustrated feeling, "Ugh, why is this so awkward? Stop my red face! Agh!" _Am I just dumb to think that Alice was going to…confess me? _

Inhaling and exhaling, calmness came back to him as he thought over the incident with Alice. It was strange to think that he was thinking about confession. All along his attention was on work, but since the day she came barging into the Clock Tower his perspective has slowly changed. She had always been there for him, minding about his health and doing all the chores. He couldn't understand the reason why she chose to stay with him rather than going to the Heart Castle or the Hatter's Mansion. There she can live luxuriously without even thinking about doing work. If she moved to other place, he would also have a nice quite time without ever being disturbed or that was what he used to think. Now because of the chaos Julius realized how empty the room looked without having Alice around. He cannot score her coffee, have conversations with her, and feel her eyes looking at him intently while doing his work. _If I'm not able to meet Alice anymore…. _Julius shook his head. He had a guess of what his feeling was towards Alice, but he wasn't sure how to act in front of her. It may only have been his self-conscious assumption that Alice liked him.

Walking out of his working room, Julius approached towards the restroom and knocked on the door, "Alice, are you still using the restroom?" It has been more than 20 minutes since he last saw her walk out the room.

Silence was his only reply as he scratched his head and walked down the hallway several times before knocking once more. He still got the same silence and sighed, "Uh, it's really weird, but I will be going inside. Sorry for intruding!" He imagined the young girl yelling out 'pervert!' and holding a bar of soap as well as towels and other tools she can find to throw at him. His eyes were tight shut and his body was frozen in place until he slowly opened it and realized that there was no one in the restroom. Confusion was in his mind until it suddenly clicked to him. She went to the past again.

A low pathetic chuckle rumbled from Julius' mouth. His whole body slumped back into a crouched position and was leaning on to the wall. After the laughter died down he lowered his head and thrust his fist towards the ground, "This is so lame…."

"Do you want to make amends for your lameness?" Hearing a sudden familiar man's voice, Julius' eyes quickly caught the sight of the incubus.

The mortician widened his eyes and immediately stood up, "Nightmare? Why are you…"

Nightmare smiled mysteriously, "Just helping you guys out."

**I can't believe I wrote nothing, but JuliusxAlice in this chapter. Before I wrote this, I was planning to add Alice waking up and have a lot of hell for her (again), but the scene with Julius get this long? :o Well it's alright anyways since this is JuliusxAlice and Alice needed some break from Junas' evil pranks. ^v^**


	8. Chapter 8

**Srry for the recently late updates! Ugh, I really wish its fall break already. TTATT**

The bed sheets ruffled softly. The slightly visible form of the girl only nudged a little and soon went back to her deep slumber. She was still tired and knew that if she had to wake up she would have to deal with Junas' evil schemes again. Enjoying the freedom of her second sleep she lay there peacefully until a feathery feeling tickled her nose. Thinking it was some sort of bug loitering around her face, Alice moved her head to the other side, but the annoyance did not go away. Finally, not able to take the weird feeling on her nose, Alice meant to wave off the bug and lightly slapped her face. The feeling which was only supposed to be a light slap turned out to be totally different texture. She instantly opened her eyes and looked at her face along with her hands, "What. The. Hell." Her face and hands were filled with shaving cream and was slowly dripping onto the bed.

As if the discovery of the dreaded cream was the signal, Alice heard children's laughter and bewilderingly looked at them. A twin, both with silver platinum hair, were rolling around the room in sheer laughter. The boy held his stomach from pain and shouted, "She fell into the trap!"

The girl, with similar features with the boy, wiped the tears forming in her eyes, "I feel sorry for her, but what a lame sight!"

_Great. Just great. What a great way to spend the morning. _

Alice narrowed her eyes and glared at the twins, "Did you guys set this up?"

Finally calming down, the girl shook her head and replied, "No, the Boss did it. He was moody today, but he still didn't forget to make some fun!" Despite saying this, Alice clearly saw the feather in her hand. Even if it wasn't the girl's fault for putting the cream on her face and hand, it was obvious that the twins were the ones who lured her into the trap.

_So it wasn't a bug, but a feather… _Alice mentally sighed and sat up to walk over to the sink in the bathroom.

The twins followed the older girl and curiously examined the foreigner. The boy eagerly accosted Alice as he tiptoed to have a better look at her face, "Hey, hey so you're the foreigner, right?"

The twin girl was on the other side from the boy and also looked at Alice's face and stated, "You have a face, but it's not pretty."

"Well the only redeeming part is your eyes. You have nice teal eyes." The boy tried to lean closer as Alice silently washed her face and hands in the sink. At the moment, all she could do was control her rising temper.

After a few seconds of observation, the boy smiled, "I guess I can like her."

The twin girl looked at Alice one more time and stated, "I don't think I can."

Wiping her face and slowly inhaling, Alice tried to refresh her mind. Ignore the disturbance smothering around her she tried to tune out and make the best of her already horrible day.

_Peace. Tranquility. Peace. Calmness._

The method worked for a while and her surroundings seemed to be devoid of chaos and misery until the twins barged into her personal space and roughly pulled her arms.

"Are you listening to us? Onee-san?"

"Maybe she's sleeping."

"Naw, I think she's just ignoring us. More of a reason to not like her."

The jerking and rough motions of the pulling and pushing made Alice give up on calming her mind and looked at the twins irritatingly, "Look you kids, do you mind if you not hang around me? I already have a horrible start for the day and I don't want to be bothered by you two."

The girl perked up and asked nonsensically, "Why? I want to play! Let's do Act I of Magical Girl Nana!"

"No way! I wanna do Bubble Rangers! I can be red and you can be yellow. I swear it would be totally awesome," the boy tugged even harder and motioned for Alice to play with him. By this time, the foreigner's arms were red from the tugging and pulling and tried break off their hold.

"First of all, let go my arms. If you don't listen to me, I will not do any of those games," the twins immediately released her arms. Satisfied that they were listened to her, Alice rubbed her wrist to alleviate the redness that was still lingering on her arm. She, then, looked at the twins straight in the eye. They were cute, a different type of cuteness from Dee and Dum, but nevertheless they must be the gate guards for the Hatter family's estate. Which meant one thing. They are not ordinary children and she should be on friendly terms with them. Quickly analyzing the twins, Alice questioned with a smile on her face, "Second of all, what's your name?"

They looked at each other for a fraction of the second and smiled deviously, "Lillia Tweedle." "Leo Tweedle."

"So your name-"

"Which one do you think is it?"

Alice tilted her head to the side in query, "Of course you're a girl so you're Lillia and you're a boy so you're Leo."

Bursting out in laughter they chanted excitedly, "Nope, nope you got it wrong~!"

"What do you mean, I got it wrong?"

Still giggling, the girl said, "I'm Lillia." The twin boy also stated, "And I'm Leo."

Getting annoyed by the weird question, Alice retorted, "That's what I told you,"

A few more laughter and Lillia finally answered, "But I'm a boy." Leo also replied in the same manner, "And I'm a girl."

A few seconds have past until Alice finally found the energy to react, "WHAT?" It was like the world was flipped around. Lillia who seemed to look like a girl is actually a boy. Leo who seemed to look like a boy is actually a girl. The whole confusion gave Alice another headache as she groaned. _Why does my life have to be this complicated? Might as well have everybody switch genders!_

"I can show you proof, if you want us to," the twins started to take off their clothes and Alice blushed with wide eyes.

"Woa! No! I don't want you guys to strip naked in front of me!" She immediately put her hand over her eyes and tried to grab a blanket from her bed to cover them.

Stopping halfway and still wearing their shirts and pants, the twins smiled, "We're kids so it would be fine~."

Leo started to put his jacket back on and smirked, "Or did onee-san have dirty thoughts?"

"When did I-" Realizing that the kids were just playing around with her, Alice coughed a few times to change the pace, "Anyways, why are you pretending to be the opposite genders?"

"Because Boss told us to."

The teal eyes blinked questioningly, "Junas?"

The twins both nodded their heads simultaneously, "Yep, before you came here, we always used to play "which is which"."

Seeing as Alice was still confused, the twins explained, "I try to be like Leo." "And I try to be like Lillia."

Lillia straightened her skirt and walked over to the mirror to look at herself, "We switch pretty often and tease the Hatter Family."

Leo continued the explanation as his twin sister tried to fix her hair meticulously, "But one day, I was acting as Leo and he was acting as me and Boss got frustrated."

Satisfied with how her hair was done, Lillia looked at Alice and the twins both finished the story in unison, "He said to stay in this form and also switch our names so it would be like I'm Lillia and she's Leo or else we would have an extreme reduction in pay. Then, we wouldn't be able to buy any toys!"

"Oh… I see…" In truth, the twin's explanation plunged Alice to deeper confusion. Which one is the girl and which one is the boy? Never in a million chance did she want to look at them naked as well as trying so hard as to understanding their true gender. In fact, it was too chaotic to the point that she just gave up on the whole idea of discovering their true gender.

Lillia frowned, "Boss sometimes becomes such a party pooper."

Leo walked over to Lillia and smiled, "But it was a bad timing I guess, since it was right after Mirea went away. Plus, I kind of like being Leo."

The platinum blonde girl also smiled and clasped her hands with his brother's hand, "I also love to be Lillia."

From her observation, Alice now understood that Leo was the optimistic boy and Liilia was the pessimistic girl who seemed to be excessively attached to her brother. It would be wise not to be so friendly with Leo, "Hm, I get it now. Ok, confusion solved; I'm hungry." Alice started to move from her spot and walked over to the closet to get her usual blue dress and white apron.

"What about playing?" The twins tried to follow Alice, but they stopped when they saw her go into the bathroom and gave them a stop sign.

Turning her head, Alice responded and closed the door, "Maybe later."


	9. Chapter 9

**One thing. I don't know if anyone realized, but the prank Junas put on Alice in chapter 7 I said whipping cream while in chapter 8 I put shaving cream...HUGE mistake. Sorry, for now I will stick with the shaving cream.**

**WARNING: Profanity is included in this chapter. I know ppl don't mind much about bad words, but just for precautions. ^w^**

From the corner of her eyes, Alice could see the twins laughing and playing around with each other. The laughter could have easily been mistaken as angels chuckling, if not for their constant whining about playing. Ignoring the two, Alice walked to the garden where two people from the Hatter's residence were already having there meals. "Good morning," she greeted them and sat next to the twins.

Junas remained silent as Kaylus spoke timidly, "….Good morning Alice, did you have a wonderful sleep?"

"Yeah I did until I actually woke up," grimacing, the brunette remembered the shaving cream incident. She quickly peeked at the perpetrator, but Junas just sipped his tea and ignored her.

Looking at both his boss and the foreigner, Kaylus awkwardly tried his best to maintain the pleasant conversation, "Oh…I see… well have some food. There are some scones and pancakes for you."

Looking at where the hand was motioning, Alice looked at the dishes that were set on the table, "Surprisingly, it looks normal." She was prepared to face Junas' infamous cooking, but instead a delicious meal was taunting her growling stomach. The butter on the pancake dripped slowly mixing in with the whip cream and a hint of strawberry jam. Next to the pancakes were blueberry scones freshly out of the oven and ready to be eaten at any moment. She knew her mouth was watering and struggled to keep herself from gobbling all the food.

Kaylus made a faint chuckle and took a bite out of his carrot Danish, "Ah, Junas didn't make it. He only specializes in sweets."

Relief washed over and Alice relaxed her shoulders a little, "I see." Without further delay, she immediately dug into the luscious pancakes. As the brunette munched on her food, she noticed something odd. Except for the twins, the atmosphere was dark and quiet. Junas had a cold unreadable expression and was dead silent while Kaylus worryingly looked at his boss.

Feeling the tense pressure, Alice gulped down her last bite and struggled to start a conversation, "So….Junas, I only have about 10 more time periods to go right?"

After a long absolute reticence, Junas finally answered monotonously, "….Yeah."

Alice clearly had no clue as to why Junas was in a foul mood, but she tried to maintain a cheerful mood and smiled, "I will not lose so please take care of me."

Junas looked at the girl, changing his face from unreadable to unpleasant.

"Um, Junas?"

Quickly looking away, Junas stood up from his seat and left, "I'm not feeling so good. I'm leaving."

The foreigner looked at the man's back growing smaller and asked Kaylus in worry, "What happened to Junas?"

"He's been like that ever since the last time," the number 2's face was pale and it was if he was even sicker than his boss.

Alice sighed, "So it's about Mirea…. I wonder if I can actually bring her over here." It seemed like a pretty effective idea, considering the fact that Junas seemed so upset right now.

Kaylus immediately answered with a no, "She's in the castle of Hearts, but I wouldn't do that if I were you. She's the most stubborn girl I ever saw." He had already tried countless times persuading Mirea to come back to the Hatter's residence, but all his attempts failed with no avail. By the 50th try, Kaylus simply gave up and worked on consoling his boss.

"But-."

"Onee-san! Let's play!" Alice looked down at the twins smiling at her, each tugging at her skirt and arms.

"I'm sorry, but I don-."

"But you told us that you will play with us if we stop stripping!"

Kaylus spit out his carrot juice and questioned in bewilderment, "S-Stripping?"

Quickly covering the twins' mouths, Alice faked laughed, "N-nothing! Hahahaha! Well I guess I have to go too. Bye Kaylus!" She swiftly grabbed the kids and ran off into the mansion, leaving the March Hare in confusion.

xoxoxoxoxo

Letting out the hot moist air, Alice tried to calm her heavy breaths. As a girl in a midst of youth, she shouldn't be tired, especially not after she just had a good rest and a filling breakfast. According to her plan of the day, she was supposed to confront Junas and convince him to give her the clock, but Junas was not in the mood and the twins forced her into playing with them. She looked at the kids jumping around in excitement, "Yay! Onee-san will play with us!"

Leo eagerly asked his sister, "Hey what should we play?"

After giving a short, half a second thought, Lillia replied, "Hm, I personally want to roleplay Magical Girl Nana."

The boy let out a huge sigh and exclaimed, "Not that again! Let's not do that girlish game! I want to do Gu-Gi-Oh." Alice honestly didn't care what game they would be playing. She just hoped that whatever game they were playing are not as dangerous as she predicted. Hoping that this fear would not come true, she observed the twins' verbal quarrel.

The siblings stopped nagging at each other and stated in determination, "Fine then this leaves us to no other choice." Alice's escaping instincts started to kick in as she imagined weapons coming into the oral fights. She didn't want to be involved in the major uproar and immediately hid behind one of the walls of the mansion.

Anticipating the razor sharp axes coming into action, she looked at the twins, but instead of the metal killing tools, they held out their fists and shouted, "Rock, Paper, scissors!" Lillia had paper while Leo had rock.

Leo sunk to the ground in agony, "NOOOOOO!"

His sister skipped around in joy, "Yes I won!" After a few moments of savoring the victory, Lillia smiled, "Ok, let's do Magical Girl Nana."

Alice looked at the sulking boy beside her for a while and turned around to the girl and asked, "Um, ok so who is going to be the magical girl?"

Lillia's smile suddenly turned sinister, "Obviously I will be Nana and you two are going to be the monsters. If you guys die or manage to defeat me then the game is over."

Alice blinked, "What?"

Leo stood up and muttered, "Gu-Gi-Oh is definitely better…."

Lillia ignored her brother and ran straight to Alice, "Ready or not, here I come!" She immediately brought out an axe and swung the weapon into the air.

Alice widened her eyes and fell back, ultimately avoiding the assault. The attack left a sharp cut on her apron part of the dress and slowly fell to the ground. She was speechless for a while, endlessly opening and closing her mouth. Cold sweat was collected in her palm and she quickly scrambled back. Looking at the girl in disbelief, an instant image of her death rushed into her head. Blood gushing and spurting out into the air, indescribable pain, and the overwhelming despair of the end. Gulping, Alice shouted, "Woa! W-wait! Why the f*** are bringing out an axe for?"

Lillia sighed as if it was too obvious to explain, "I told you, you're the monster. You have to act like one and rampage the whole place! And I will come out as the beautiful and pretty magical girl and defeat you. Oh and Onee-san you shouldn't swear right in front of kids, you know?"

_F*** I don't care! I almost got cut by that thing!_

"Whatever, that doesn't mean you can take real knives and bombs out!" She was sure that if she really played this deadly game, she would not be able to survive.

Lillia wrinkled her brows in query, "Why not? How can I kill you then?"

Alice was about to give her usual lectures about the importance of being safe when Leo suddenly ran towards her and grabbed her hand, "Come on, Onee-san let's go!" The brunette heard Lillia call out her name and was about to tell Leo to stop running, but she shut her mouth. There was a slim chance that Lillia would understand what Alice was saying, even worse she might kill Alice while she is giving the lecture.

The foreigner sighed. She knew she cannot change everybody's way of thinking, but she just couldn't accept the way people treated one's life. It was too cruel. Too sad. Perhaps the only one who understood her thinking was Julius. Although he never said anything about her opinion, he never denied that it was weird or wrong. In fact, Alice sometimes could see a brief moments of sadness displayed in Julius' face while he looked at the wrecked clocks.

"Onee-san" Alice looked at the boy and was surprised to see his face so close. She didn't notice that she was led around the mansion and was hiding somewhere in the closet. She could hear both her own heart beating and Leo's clock ticking.

Leo squinted his eyes and peek at the small opening of the closet door, "Shhh…..just stay here and she will go away."

Alice closed her eyes and tried to relax, "I thought I was going to die…."

"Lillia is a swift killer so even if you die it wouldn't hurt so much."

"I do not wish to die, yet," Alice emphasized the word quietly. With so many things to do, there was no way she was going to die because of a stupid girly game.

"Well, I want to hurry up and end this game so we can play Gu-Gi-Oh," after moments of silence, Leo looked at the darkness as if he was thinking of something. He then stood up and whispered, "You can stay here and wait 'till I defeat her and let's play the next game."

Alice suppressed her frown. Whatever the game, Gu-Gi-Oh was, she never wanted to play the twins' game. Nevertheless, she whispered back, "Alright. Don't get hurt."

Leo stopped his movement and looked at her, "Onee-san is weird… Getting hurt is a daily routine. I cannot stop it." His stare was as if he was trying to decipher an impossible code.

Alice smiled sadly, "Then…try not to get hurt, ok?"

After a little hesitation, Leo opened the closet door and went out, "Alright. Bye onee-san."

After the closet door closed silently, Alice sighed and rested her head against her knees.

… _How long should I stay here?_

xoxoxoxoxoxo

It seemed like hours since Leo left the hiding place. Alice felt her body cramped and she was beginning to think of also getting out of the closet. Moving her leg a little, she stretched to prepare herself for the big run.

_Once I get out of this place, I need to run to Junas' office and the lock the door._

Perhaps the best choice was to just stay where she was, but she tired of waiting the endless game. She also needed to continue with Junas' game. It was worrisome to see Junas look so gloomy.

Just when Alice was going to stand up, she heard a little creak and a ray of light shined through the dark restricted room. The face contrasted with the light from the back and was hard to see, but Alice knew who it was. Lillia had a wicked smile plastered on her face and sang playfully, "I~found~you~"

"!"

Xoxoxoxoxo

The dark, limitless space filled her sights. Alice knew where she was, the Dream realm. She wasn't planning to come here so soon, especially when Julius just saw her crying face.

…_Well, I guess I'm happy to see him anyways._

If Lillia attacked Alice, she must have died. Maybe God gave her last chance and allowed her to meet Julius one more time.

_What should I say to him?_

Alice had too much thing to say to him. She wanted to spend more time with him, talk with him, and also confess her true feelings to him.

She continued to walk in search for the Clock Tower. It was strange; by this time, Alice would have already entered the building and greeted the mortician. It was impossible to not see the Clock Tower.

The walk gradually turned into a desperate run as Alice shouted across the blank space, "Julius! I'm here!" The soundless darkness crept in her heart. Julius must be there; she only needed to walk another step and maybe she can find him. As her sprint slowly decreased, she knelt down and shook frantically. A huge lump in her throat suffocated her breathing, but more than anything else, the fear of Julius' disappearance squeezed her heart and was about to gush out with blood.

With her last strength, Alice mustered to produce a sound, "…Julius?" Her sights were becoming blurry; she knew that it was time to wake up, but she didn't want to. There still maybe some evidence left of Julius. If she found that, maybe she can see Julius one more time….. Finally, no longer able to maintain her strength, she let herself fall down and into the abyss.

…_.Where….are you?..._

**I had fall break so I was able to update this chappy. Hurray! The bad news is I only have two days for fall break -A-III WTH? I thought fall break was one week! Why is it only TWO? …I guess I should just be happy that I at least have a break. T3T**


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter has nothing to do with Halloween, but anyways Happy Halloween! **

Junas looked at Alice with a mixed feeling. He hated her. That was definite, but what was it that made him save her from Lillia? Junas was slightly surprised when Kaylus barged into his room and begged him to save Alice. Kaylus and he knew that the twins' games looked harmless on the surface, but deadly than any other child's game. However, that didn't mean that he was obligated to really save the girl. But he did. _The girl who is the same kind as Mirea._ Looking at the face of the sleeping girl, Junas' irritation increased. He needed to vent on something, tear off that peaceful smug face off from her, and blame her because she made him remind of Mirea. Biting his lip, Junas snapped his hand to summon one of the maids. Without looking at the faceless servant, he ordered, "Get me a bucket of cold water with large blocks of ice cubes." With a slight bow, the maid exited Alice's room.

Lillia walked beside Junas and tugged his sleeve excitedly, "Ooo! What are you going to do Boss?"

Leo also did the same gesture as he jumped around in anticipation, "Are you going to dump it on her face?"

Kaylus froze and imagined of what's to come, "Junas …..You cannot do that….."

"No one tells me what's right and what's wrong." When the March Hare stopped speaking and only timidly looked at the boss, Junas snorted and took the bucket full of cold water from the maid. He, then, pulled out a rubber doll roach from his pocket and placed it on top of Alice's face.

"Oh! I have some insect dolls too!" Leo raced out of the room; it took only a couple of seconds and brought back a dozen of insect rubber dolls and placed them near Alice's face.

The twins tried to suppress their giggle while Junas smirked. He was excited to see Alice's awestruck reaction along with fear mixed in with it. "This will do….now let's see your reaction!" He dumped the cold water on Alice and, as a signal, the twins laughed almost hysterically. Seeing the girl jump and shiver slightly, Junas also laughed, "Hahahaha! That's what you get for making me save you from the twins."

The eyes fluttered open and looked at the ceiling vacantly. Her eyes were dull and did not have the usual life in it. Not making any drastic motion, it was as if she was emotionally dead. Junas looked at Alice weirdly and picked up the rubber roach that was on her face, "Hey aren't you going to say anything like 'Thank you for saving my life almighty Junas-sama?'" He waited for the answer, but the girl said nothing and just closed her eyes.

"Hey don't go back to sleep!" Junas never saw Alice like this; usually she would give some kind of reaction and get angry. Now, she doesn't move her brows even if a roach was on top of her face. _The hell! Is she retarded or something?_

Kaylus approached to the foreigner's side and asked worriedly, "Alice? A-Are you …alright?"

Alice continued to close her eyes. Just when Junas was about to demand for an answer, he heard a weak mumble, "Huh?"

"Julius is gone." The voice was weak and frail, too frail that Junas had to concentrate to listen to what she was saying.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?" "Why….?" Alice raised her arms to her head and shouted, slowly increasing the volume.

"W-What the, what's the matter with you? Have you gone mad?" Everyone was shocked by her unusual behavior and just watched her slowly get out of the bed. Her gown was soaked and some of the rubber insects were tangled in her hair. Still, Alice ignored this and staggeringly walked towards the door. Quietly mumbling, the words seemed as if she was desperately praying, "….I have to find Julius."

At this rate, it was obvious that she was going to catch a cold, get hurt, or even worst case scenario, get killed. Clucking his tongue, he carried Alice with one arm and ordered the maid to bring him a towel. It only took two breaths until he had one as Junas dropped the towel on Alice and haughtily stated, "I don't know who the heck this Julius guy is and why you are suddenly all weird like this, but you are in my territory so I command you to lie down and rest." With this, he ordered the other servants to properly dress the girl and change the bed sheets.

He, then, turned to the twins, "You guys watch Alice and don't let her out. If I see her gone or have even a single scratch, I will give you hell."

The Tweedles straightened their posture and answered enthusiastically, "Yes Boss" "Aye aye Boss"

After taking one last look at Alice, Junas went out the door.

Xoxoxoxoxo

After closing the door, Junas stated vexingly, "What's wrong with her? Just a while ago I saw her with her usual dunce mood and now she's just like a dead dog."

Kaylus was beside him and was also in an anxious mood, "Maybe it's because you did too much pranks on her?"

Rolling his eyes, the mafia boss looked at his number two in annoyance, "Do you really think that's the cause?"

The glare made Kaylus uneasy and tried to avoid eye contact and inaudibly replied, "…No."

Junas sighed, "Anyways, it's irritating the way she is now." He hated how weak his subordinate was. He constantly tried to avoid any eye contact with him. In addition, he cannot even speak properly. The only thing he is good at is working his a** off.

Kaylus looked at his boss and asked, "So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know that's your job."

"Huh? Ummm….well."

Time was running out and Junas hated to wait for an answer that was longer than a minute as he tapped his foot, "Come on hurry up."

Struggling to think of a good suggestion, Kaylus answered slowly, "Uh, what about…going on a picnic with her?"

"Hm, I guess that will do. Alright get ready for the picnic." He called the faceless servants to quickly prepare for the picnic.

Watching his boss ordering the servants, Kaylus spoke up nervously, "…Junas, can I ask you a favor?"

"Likely not, but what?"

"Please um, don't pull a prank on Alice for now…" Junas lift his brow in surprise as Kaylus continued while stammering, "She's really weak… right now and uh she cannot handle your tricks…Please…."

Staring at his number two for a while, Junas answered, "Fine."

Xoxoxoxoxo

Opening the door with a loud 'bam' Junas marched into the room, "Hey lazy butts, get up we're going on a picnic."

The twins who were playing around on the bed sparkled their eyes in thrill, "Picnic?" "For real?"

Alice just motionlessly looked at the floor. She was in her usual blue apron dress and her hair was kempt; the maids did a good job on preparing her attire.

Junas nodded his head in satisfaction and grabbed her arm, "Yeah, whatever so let's get out of this room."


	11. Chapter 11

The Tweedle twins stared at each other with great intensity. Even in the Hatter family, it was rare for the twins to have such serious face. Breathing uneasily, the children threw out their fist and shouted, "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Lillia's face grew pale and her brother jumped around in triumph, "NO!" "Yes!"

Grinning enthusiastically, Leo readily prepared himself for the awaited game, "Ok, let's do the Shoot The Birds Game!" Lillia grumbled, trying to get away from her twin's game at any means possible, "But I wanted to play the Rabbit Slicing Game….Why don't we do it one more time?"

"Too bad. Alright ready or not here we go!" He picked up his axe and dashed to kill the poor birds on the tree while Lillia sighed and chased after her brother.

Looking at the twins annoyingly, Junas shouted, "Hey brats, don't play near our area got it?"

Without even giving a glance at their boss, the children answered while laughing, "Got it~!" Junas doubted if the gatekeepers truly understood what he said and turned to his number2. Kaylus lie down under a big oak tree, slowly closing his eyes. Ever since Junas threw buckets of lizards at him, he was unable to sleep. Every night, he saw dreams of thousands of lizards jumping around and attacking him. In order to stop the nightmare, he concentrated on his mafia duty and never slept in a while. The soft wind gently caressed his tired sleepy eyes and whispered to him to go sleep. Without denial, Kaylus succumbed to his instinct and went into a deep slumber.

Confirming that they were alone, Junas now turned to Alice, who was as quiet as a corpse, "Now, as for you…." He stepped in front of Alice and pointed his index finger towards her, "Where's your usual dim-witted smile? How about your ugly reaction? Or your overly positive energy? ….Weren't you going get the clock?"

Still looking blankly at the empty space, Alice mumbled, "…I have to find Julius."

Junas sighed, from the looks of it, this picnic was not going to cheer up the foreigner in any way, "Alright fine then. Who is this guy called Julius?" Alice just continued to space out and mumbled Julius' name. Junas waited for a few minutes as if to let Alice calm down, but over time it was making him irritated and impatient.

Finally after Alice saying Julius' name for the 12th time, Junas took out his gun and shot a bullet in the air. The loud sound caused Alice to flinch and Kaylus to jump in shock. Junas yelled, "Wake up, dumba**! How long do you think you are dozing off?"

Kaylus looked at his boss in surprise, but remained silent. Alice, for the first time since she woke up, looked at the man in front of her with clear sad eyes, "…Junas."

Putting the gun back, Junas demanded in a serious tone, "Now answer me. What happened? Who is Julius?"

Alice slowly opened her mouth while staring at the ground. She felt total abjection as she tried to suppress her own tears, "Julius…is my most important person…..but…"

"But?"

"He suddenly is not here anymore! Why? Just a while ago I saw him and…."

Watching Alice growing quiet again, Junas widened his eyes for a second and soon roared in laughter, "Haha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He continued to laugh hysterically and smiled, almost too wide to be called a pleasant one. He raised Alice's chin and made her face towards him. "Oh so that was the reason why you were so down? Because this one guy just suddenly disappeared?" Alice was confused at Junas' sudden change of behavior, but said nothing.

Still chuckling, he spoke, "Listen, disappearance means abandonment; he will never come back. No matter how much you fret over it. You may think that your love of life is gone now, but you will live. You can still breath, see things, eat anything you want as long as you wish for it. I'll give you a good piece of advice: Forget. About. Him." His eyes were piercing sharply with a hint of coldness and cruelty. Alice always had to be careful around Junas, but that was because he constantly pulled pranks on her, she never felt scared around him. Now she was scared, like she saw the true face of the mafia boss.

She would have shuddered and tried to run away from him, but she also knew that she couldn't do that. What Junas said was true. You will live even if somebody left you, but some things were wrong. You cannot truly forget a person, no matter how hard you wish for it. A faint image of Alice's tutor, her previous lover, appeared in her mind and soon vanished. "True… even if he is gone, I'm still alive. I can move, eat, breath, I can do anything I want…" Inhaling, Alice blinked her eyes and stared straight at Junas, "But…I don't believe Julius abandoned me. I also don't want to forget about him. I just cannot. If I forget about him, what was all that time spent with him? That blissful time, my feelings, my happiness? Does that all go down the drain?" She, then, closed her eyes, remembering Julius in utmost details, nothing was fading away from her memories as if he was right there beside her, "I…I don't want to forget him. And I don't think you can ever forget about Mirea…"

Junas flinched at the sudden notion of his lover and reacted drastically, "What the- where did Mirea come from!" He was about to protest, but, when he noticed Alice just staring at him in silence, an image of Mirea crossed his mind. The golden locks flowed gracefully and framed her small face; a face that was smiling so energetically. As soon as Junas saw this image, he shut his mouth and gripped his fist, "…I admit that I can't seem to forget about that b****, but it's not like I can get back with her."

He, then, crouched down beside Alice and hugged her. Alice's eyes widened and immediately looked at the man, "Ju…nas?"

"We both have a common aspect. If that is so then why don't you just live with me forever? We can share our pain together." His voice was not his usual harsh, demanding one. It was as if he wanted to desperately lean on to something; calling for help. Alice had no words to answer the request; she knew too well what kind of pain Junas was going through, but it was not her place to become the second Mirea. It was just wrong to form a relationship based on mutual pain.

Alice gripped Junas' sleeve, "That…." Just when Alice was about speak, a rough force pulled Alice away from Junas.

"What are you doing to Alice?" A familiar firm hand was gripped around her waist and long navy blue hair flowed down to Alice's shoulder. _It's not possible…._ Alice slowly shift her gaze from the big hand secured around her to the man's face.

A tear formed in her eyes and Alice softly spoke, "J-Julius?"

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Junas struggled to get up. An intruder has pushed the Hatter's family boss and there was no way he could forgive this rudeness, "What the- who the hell are you?" Junas immediately brought his gun and aimed at the man.

Julius already had his gun, but Alice covered Julius and shook her head, "Stop, Junas! This is someone I know!"

Junas scoffed, "I don't care if he is someone you know; he trespassed the Hatter family's territory and pushed ME, the BOSS, that's enough reason to kill that freckin' bastard."

Alice glared at Junas, she was absolutely not going to let this develop into a bloody fight, "NO. If you shoot Julius. I-I will never forgive you and never think about living with you."

"What?" "What?" Junas and Julius both looked at the girl in disbelief.

Alice cringed at the two men's reaction. She didn't mean to say those words, but it seemed like the only possible way out. Sighing, she ignored the men's reaction and stated, "Now, just lower you gun and give me and Julius a moment."

Both of the men put their gun away and Julius walked towards Alice. For a few seconds, Junas did not move from the spot, but eventually backed away and mumbled, "…..Fine then."

Relaxing from the successful avoiding of danger, Alice turned to Julius, finally letting out her filled up emotion.

**I was planning to update this chapter last weekend, but yeah…couldn't. (Not like this is the first time or anything but….) Well after reading this chapter most people would be thinking "What? How did Julius pop up from nowhere?" I tell you, there is a legit reason (well in my own way it is). It will be explained in the next chapter so cya! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey it's cyber Monday! Everybody in front of their computers (looking at amazon and ebay) and buying stuff? 'Cause I am! xD**

Alice turned to the man standing in front of her. Just looking at his dark, blue eyes and smooth white skin made her tears well up, "Juliu-"

Julius grabbed Alice and gently, whispered to her, "Alice, I missed you." It had seemed to be a long time since he last hugged her. Her petit body was easily surrounded; so much that he may have easily let her slip away if he wasn't careful. This was the reason why he always held her too strong, so he could make sure she would not stray away from him. However, the last time he held her, Alice complained that it hurt her. As much as he didn't want her to leave, he also didn't want to hurt her. Putting his arm around her, Julius touched the foreigner as if he was handling a glass sculpture.

Alice just stood there and clinched on the man's coat, "Stupid, betrayer, coldhearted mushroom guy….Why did you just disappear all of a sudden?"

Julius just replied softly, "Sorry, I'm sorry."

She could hear her own voice crack and her sights become blurry. She could no longer keep her emotions anymore, "I-If you do that again I will force you to stay at the amusement park and make you ride on the roller coaster consecutively 50 times."

"Yeah," Smiling sadly, he patted her head to make her relax. It was his fault that he left her all alone and now he wanted to atone for it.

Burying her face in his clothes, her soft pitched sound came out in a muffle, "I-I hate that I still love you…."

Julius just looked at the girl who was trying not to cry. Without thinking, his mouth slipped naturally, "I love you too, Alice." Hearing this statement, Alice's heart jumped for a second. She felt like she wanted to immediately raise her head to meet the man's eye and question. Is that as a lover or family? Even though she had the urge to do so, for now, Alice wanted bask in Julius' presence. She didn't care about that right now; the only important thing was that he was here.

Julius was shocked in his own statement. He never thought he could ever say those lines smoothly. Love… It was somewhat foreign to Julius' life. He always lived in the Clock Tower, associating with limited number of people. Alice was the only one who worried for him and it was also his first time worrying over someone this much. Increasingly becoming self conscious about what he said, he felt his face warm up.

Standing there for another few minutes, Junas stood beside Kaylus under the oak tree. Irritated by seeing the couple being intimate, he turned to his subordinate, "Hey, when I give you a sign, shoot him."

Kaylus looked at his boss in bewilderment, "W-Why? Isn't he Alice's friend?"

Junas smiled cheerfully, he just couldn't wait to see Julius' body covered in blood and scream in agony. It was a fine retribution to the kick earlier. "He's irritating and a bastard. Moreover he's an intruder. You know what the rule is, right?" Shivering a little, Kaylus secretly took out his gun and moved his head up and down. Everything was ready and all that Junas had to do was walk up to the couple, find the best timing and spot, and make a signal at Kaylus to kill Julius.

Walking up to Alice, Junas clapped his hand to change the mood, "Alright, emotional reunion over. Separated people, no touching."

Coughing a little, Julius immediately broke away from Alice, "Yes, I want you to give me full explanation of why you were approaching Alice."

"Just comforting a little girl while the useless ditcher was away."

Alice could see the rising anger from Julius and stepped in between the two men, "You're misunderstanding Julius! Junas wasn't doing anything to me!" It was a nervous tension as Junas put his hand on his back and raised it, telling Kaylus to be prepared for the signal.

The mafia boss scoffed, "What? Are you still doubting me? Nagging guys are what girls hate the most you know."

Julius walked in front of Junas and glared at him, "I heard a lot about you from Alice. What kind of mafia boss would just laze around and spend his time only to trouble a girl."

_Shit, he's too close for Kaylus to shoot…_, If Junas made the signal right now, there was the possibility that Kaylus might shoot him instead of Julius. Narrowing his eyes in to slits, Junas still didn't make a motion to kill Julius; he needed to somehow get away from him. "Ha! What trouble? She consented on the deal. As long as I have this clock, I can do whatever I want to her." Pushing Julius away, Junas skipped over to Alice.

He put his arm around and raised his hand to prepare the signal once more, "Oh by the way, Alice you said that you were going to live forever with me right? So just leave that ditcher already. We can also cancel the game that we were doing." Thinking that the Junas' hand motion was just an enthusiastic gesture, Alice smiled unsuccessfully. She needed to think of ways to decline the offer. While Alice was contemplating and Julius' eyes on to Junas' arm that was around the girl, it was the best timing and spot. Smiling deviously, Junas made a motion to kill Julius.

"What did you say, Junas?" Kaylus, who was about to shoot Julius, froze in place.

Junas flinched at the familiar voice and slowly turned to the direction of the voice. There a blonde girl wearing a dress with vibrant pattern of hearts engraved intricately stood near the tree. "Mi…rea?" Junas could only look at the sight of the girl. He was too shocked and felt as if all the electric vibe went through his body and left him in a daze.

The girl glared at Junas and stomped towards his side, "You bastard! Are you flirting with this chick when you already have me?" She grabbed his coat by its collar and was ready to get a good punch into his face.

Junas stared at Mirea for a while and finally opened his mouth, "B-But how are you here? I thought you were at the Castle of Hearts?"

Raging fire spitted out of Mirea's eyes and her explanation was almost a scream, "I only went there so you can cool you head off. I was getting frustrated by your constant pranks and you needed to learn your lesson to never pull pranks on anyone. I thought this method will work, but look at you now! You're pranking on ANOTHER foreigner! I see that as long as it's a foreigner you don't care who you love right?" Alice and Julius watched Mirea's fearsome nature in awe and also looked at Junas sweating nervously.

"No! I was just playing with her because I was sad that you left me and-."

"That's what I call **not having faith in your own girlfriend** dumba**," she brought her fist down and beat the pulp out of her lover. Junas' scream was heard throughout the area and Kaylus, who didn't move an inch from the tree, just prayed that he was still alive.

Looking at Junas and Mirea's violent interaction, Julius coughed and tried to change the pace, "So is it true that you are going to live with him, Alice?"

As if she just woke up from a daze, Alice's head shot up to look at Julius and swung her head to the side, "No, No, No! That's utter nonsense. I have absolutely no intention of being with him"

The bluenette couldn't hide his smile and he himself felt a huge wave of relief wash over his fear, "That's good. If you left it would be tiresome to do all the cleaning and housework by myself."

Wry grin spread over Alice's face. Although she couldn't imagine him doing the housework at all, she knew that this was Julius' own way of telling her that he was happy to once again live with her, "So….why are you and Mirea here? That's a pretty odd combination."

"It was all due to my hard work, honey~."

"Io!" Alice widened her eyes at the sudden entrance of the Chesire cat. At the same time, Julius' face turned slight blue and took a step back from Io.

With his usual wide mysterious grin, Io stepped forward and poked Julius' cheek, "I saw those two pitiful souls getting lost in the forest so I lent my beautiful, kindly guidance to where the Hatter family estate was." The mortician's body froze in place and goose bumps popped up from several places where Io touched him.

Alice saw this bizarre interaction and had a mixed feeling of awkwardness and sympathy, "Oh…I see. Thank you Io."

"No need for thanks sugar. I will always lend a helping hand to a cute lady and also this darling handsome man because I am the most wonderful, gorgeous Chesire cat in the entire world!" Io winked at Alice and twirled around to make a garish pose with his purple boa. An illusion of flashing sound effects and a spotlight from heaven could almost be seen through Alice's eyes.

Julius shivered in gross fear while the foreigner could only fake laugh, "Uhh, yeah alright."

After just standing and watching the odd cat's endless chattering, Julius finally recovered to his normal pessimistic self. "I never want to get close to that cat again." He muttered in a low voice for no one else to hear and then turned to Alice, "There is more to just Io's explanation."

The girl looked at Julius in slight query as he continued on, "That incubus worm brought me here."

It took a few seconds before Alice could decipher what 'incubus worm' meant and immediately raised her head to meet Julius' face, "Nightmare did?"

**ugh, i totally missed the chance to upload this chapter during the thanksgiving weekend -A- plus, is it just me or i have seen a dejavu of this julius and alice reunion? ...ok plz dont mind. its just me (an author who cant write something more creative) ranting and bashing at myself.**


	13. Chapter 13

"_Do you want to make up for your lameness?" A strand of gray hair floated lightly and covered a part of the incubus' mysterious eyes. Julius glared at Nightmare. _

"_Worm, why are you here?" Although he predicted that in some point in time, Nightmare would come to this realm, he still couldn't hide the surprise in his face. He tensed his facial muscle and was cautious of the sudden appearance of the man in front of him._

_The gray haired man made a loud annoying groan and stomped his feet on the air, "It's NIGHTMARE. You can also call me almighty, cool, and handsome Nightmare-sama." He brought up his once frowning mouth to a smile and tried to act as if a shining sound effect went off with his supposedly cool expression. Julius stood there and mentally sighed. _

_**Worm is just a worm after all…**_

_Although he was the game master and the owner of the Clover Tower, he had neither the intention of being serious nor being cautious of possible danger._

_**Well it is also true that worm doesn't need any unnecessary precautions because he has those "powers," the power which only an incubus can obtain.**_

_Julius had a mental conversation with himself; having an intelligent talk to oneself is sometimes more beneficial than talking to an idiot who just constantly annoyed him._

"_Hey don't ignore me! Get out of that working habit already!"_

_Julius looked at himself and saw his hands holding screws and metallic parts for clocks. Even though he was already finished his work, he still couldn't get out of the habit of contemplating and working at the same time. Fixing clocks made him relax and his daily work soon turned into a habit. _

_Grunting slightly, the mortician set the tools aside, "You're the one who is ditching too much."_

_Nightmare shook his head and sighed. Julius raised his brow, he was the one who wanted to shake his head and sigh. He didn't want anyone to barge into his territory for long period of time even if this was place was officially the dream realm…..save for Alice. Julius only frowned as Nightmare spoke in a distressed tone, "Seriously...and here I thought I came to give you good news."_

"_Are you telling me that you know a way to get out of this trapped situation?" __**Of course that was the only reason why Nightmare was here.**__ Julius mentally rolled his eyes at himself. He didn't know why Nightmare was not getting straight to the point when he already could read his mind and knew that Julius had suspected how the incubus can send him back to the present._

_Nightmare smiled creepily, "Yep and be with your love of your life, Alice!"_

_Julius' cheek colored at the sudden mention of Alice and sighed heavily to try and hide his emotion, "Yeah alright just hurry up and send me and Alice to the present Country of Hearts, worm."_

"_Well, just for your information you have two choices. I can send you to where Alice is right now, 428 prius, and find your own way to get back to the present, 2628 prius."_

"_Or I can send you back to our period, but you can't go back with Alice. Plus, I don't know if the present Country of Hearts is a safe place."_

"…_What do you mean?" This was not what Julius predicted. From his deduction, he thought Nightmare would come to the dream realm and because he was the game master, he could retrieve the clocks of the Wonderland and also send them back to the present._

_Nightmare noticed Julius' questioning stare, "It seems like you have an idea already, but I'll explain the details anyways. Ever since the clocks of the Wonderland fell, the dimension of our period is mixing into other time periods. Just like this dream realm. But the sad thing is my power only goes to this dream realm not where Alice is."_

_**And that is the reason why this worm, an incubus and also the game master, can appear right in front of me and have the ability to send me to mixed time periods…..**_

_Julius definitely wanted to go back to the present, but going back without Alice was not an option. It was already impossible for him to live without her. Quickly making the decision, Julius looked straight at Nightmare, "So as long as I retrieve the clocks and fix it, I have a chance to come back home."_

_The gray hair bounced up and down in the ambiguous space and the incubus finally showed his mysterious smile, "That's right."_

_Julius felt like giving another sigh, "So troublesome…." Why is it that problems seem to always arise in front of him? All he asks for is a quiet peaceful life in the Clock Tower and Alice brewing a coffee for him…_

_**Does…Alice love me?**_

_Ever since his previous meeting with Alice, the question kept on bombarding his mind. His face would get hot and his adept hands would get clumsy during work. This was not good for him, he needed to ask Alice directly. _

_Thinking about Alice again, Julius shook his head to try and stay focus._

_Nightmare caught Julius' train of thought and smirked mockingly, "Well think of this as a love adventure. Have a fun time looking for clues, solving mysteries, and slowly develop your love with Alice."_

_Taking his fixing tools for clocks, Julius turned his back quickly and spoke curtly, "Just get going already, pale face worm." _

"_I'm not a worm!" _

"Well that's the overall discussion with him. So the problem now is how to get the clock and get back to the present," Julius explained what happened at the dream realm, omitting Nightmare's ridiculous love jokes.

Not suspecting anything from the conversation between Nightmare and Julius, Alice rest her eyes to the ground and thought deeply, "I see then we have to get it from Junas…." Even though Alice mentioned Junas' name they didn't even look at the man behind them.

They were all trying to ignore what was going in the back. Mirea screamed her head off and smacked Junas several times with a piece of stick that was lying on the ground, "You f*ckin' manwhor*! I'm gonna smash you up in molecular pieces and throw you into the dark depths of nothingness until you die!"

A drop of tear filled up in Junas' blue eyes as he shouted desperately, "I'll be dead by the time you smash me up in molecular pieces!"

"Shut up and prepare yourself!" With this, Junas' death cry was heard across the land and it did not stop until several hours later.

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

"Ah, that made me feel so much better!" A sparkling refreshed mood filled Mirea's face as she threw the stick away and landed right on top of what was left of Junas.

Alice spared a glance at Junas, wondering if he was dead and discovered that he was still breathing. Sort of relieved by this fact, she took a step toward the other foreigner, "Uuh, can we ask you something?"

"Sure. I'm in a really good mood right now," Mirea turned around, showing off her best smile. She looked like an ordinary looking girl with blonde curly hair and blue eyes.

Alice had so much things to ask her. _Where did you come from? How did you get here? What did you think when you decided to stay here? _Although she had all these questions filling her mind, she needed to accomplish her original mission, "Actually, Junas promised me that he would give me the clock that he had."

Suddenly a dark aura clouded Mirea's smile, "Oh yeah sure. Junas is such a KIND man so he would of course give something to this cute beautiful chick." A small squeak escaped from Junas' mouth and tried to slowly run away from the place. Mirea showed an evil smirk and stomped Junas with her feet.

Sweating nervously, Alice spoke weakly, "Um, by the way, I have no intention of stealing your lover."

Turning to look at Alice, Mirea's expression softened, "Of course I know that. Besides you have your own handsome man; makes me want to be head over heels if I didn't meet Junas first."

A second passed before Alice reacted, "Wait, you mean J-Julius?"

"Of course, who else is there?"

"B-but Julius and I….are we lovers?" Alice spared a glance at Julius who was equally surprised and awkward.

Mirea looked at Alice as if she was dumb and scoffed, "You guys decide that for yourselves. Wait here while Junas and I have a looong talk and retrieve your clock."

Mirea skipped off to torture the already half dead Mafia boss and left the couple alone. Julius and Alice stood in the middle of the meadow in uncomfortable silence.

Alice bit her lip and urged herself to start some sort of conversation, "Um, so it became kind of awkward haha…." Cold, nervous sweat ran across her face. Julius seemed like he had a hard time replying and was in deep thought. Fidgeting and constantly opening and closing her hands, she couldn't take the atmosphere anymore. Pretending as if she remembered something, she snapped her finger and exclaimed, "Ah, I think I'll go check on Junas."

Just when she was going to turn around and walk over to Mirea and Junas' side, she felt a force keeping her from escaping the spot. Julius grabbed her arm with a dissatisfying look, "Wait. Why are you going to that man's place?"

"Huh?" Her teal eyes blinked and reflected the man in front of her with confusion.

Still holding her arm, Julius quietly mumbled, but audible for Alice to hear, "You rather want to be with him than living in the Clock Tower, right?"

Alice truly had no idea what Julius was talking about. Why does she want to live with Junas? The one person she would DARE NOT live with even if the whole world exploded. "That's not it! Julius, I thought we had this talk before."

Julius turned hs head around and answered grumpily, "But even back in the present, you wander off to meet different man every day."

"Don't talk as if I'm a slut or something!" _Is that the kind of image I have in Julius' mind? _It was already annoying with Blood calling her a slut, she didn't want Julius to think of it as well. What's more…. Julius is not the same as Blood….. Stabbing pain spread like needles in Alice's chest as she tried to hide her hurt expression.

"Then don't go anywher-," After the few ranting sentences, Julius let his hand slip away from Alice's arm and mumbled , "…..never mind."

Curious by the sudden change in behavior, Alice stared at Julius' face. The man's navy blue eyes awkwardly wandered off to look at some place far away and his flawlessly smooth skin blushed.

Wondering why the Clock master, who is notorious for his dispassionate personality, to be blushing like a girl in love. Alice thought of the conversation they had and realized, "Julius…..you ….are you jealous of Junas?" It was impossible though, how can Julius, who is always calm and only has his eyes on his work to actually feel this way towards Alice?

Blushing even more, Julius exclaimed in reaction, "Wha-! How can I be jealous of that crazy pitiful guy?"

Slightly opening her mouth, Alice was lost in words. What was this feeling that she had? A burst of energy and courage flowed from within and was about to explode in seconds.

"I love you" Without her noticing, she naturally let the words slip away from her mouth. _Was it because I saw a ray of hope of possibly having my feeling reciprocated? _Thinking even more, she mentally shook her head. Whether Julius was really jealous of Junas or not, it didn't matter to Alice right now. She just wanted to convey this feeling.

Widening his eyes, Julius opened his mouth and frantically tried to keep his face from getting redder than it already was, "A-Are you crazy? Why are saying that-."

"I know you think I'm crazy! Maybe to you, I'm just a little sister or something, but I….I can't help it. I love you," Slowly faltering her words into mere phrases, Alice's brought her lips into a melancholic smile, she fought to keep her tears from falling. It was weird…. why was it that she felt sadness when she had so much energy a while ago? She thought if she had so much energy she could take on the rejection. Was it because Julius was looking at her as if he had a hard time giving her an answer? Was she becoming a hindrance to him? Losing the happiness she once had, Alice let her eyes droop to the ground.

Just when she was about to turn around and run away for good, Julius gripped his fist and pulled Alice into his arm. Alice turned her head to look at him and was met with a passionate kiss. The two lips touched each other and fit in almost too perfectly. The brunette felt a hand wrapping around her waist and Julius' leg move in to stabilize both of their position. A quiet moan escaped as Alice's mouth was invaded with Julius' desperate kiss.

After the long kiss, the couple breathed heavily and stared at each other. They were both shocked at what just happened a few seconds ago.

Catching his breath, Julius turned back to his dispassionate face, "Idiot….you're not going to be happy with such a gloomy man like me…."

Although he was trying to act normal, Alice could still see a tint of red in the man's cheek as she smiled wryly, "It's alright. I'm already used to it." Staring at each other even more, they felt like they could do another round of kissing and leaned closer to each other.

"He~y, are you guys over yet? It's kind of getting sticky hot over there." Julius and Alice jumped at the sudden voice and looked at Mirea, Junas, and Kaylus standing right next to them.

"Y-YEaH!" They instantly moved back to give themselves personal space. Junas just sighed as if they were a bunch of idiots while Mirea glanced at Alice and gave thumbs up to her, making Alice's face look like a life size tomato. Similar to Alice, Kaylus was also blushing and coughed several times to try and hide his emotions.

"So here is the clock," Junas tossed the golden object to the foreigner. The clock landed on her palm and the letter _Wonder _gleamed under the bright sun.

Alice couldn't help, but smile. She worked hard and took on Junas' horrible pranks just to get the clock. Now her reward was right in her hand, shining as if it was a gold medal. Turning to Julius, she grinned at him and Julius smiled back in relief. Just when she was about to thank Mirea and Junas for handing over the clock, she heard Julius call out her name in panic.

Moving her eyes to look at Julius, she felt something weird. She couldn't feel her hands. Looking to where her hands once were, Alice popped her eyes and screamed. Her hands along with the clock were gone; instead a small black hole swirled in the middle of the air. The hole was getting bigger as great force pulled her body towards the darkness in great speed.

Looking at her disappearing body, Alice tried to reach out for Julius and cried out, "Juli-!"

**Yay, I was able to type lots of JuliusxAlice moments! ^U^ Next week I won't be able to update because of semester exam (well….I wasn't updating weekly in an orderly time….) but just to let you know. Btw, in two weeks I'll have my long awaited winter break WOOHOOOO! So hopefully I will get to update more.**

**Oh and finally part I for time bomb is over. I know that Alice is screaming because she's getting sucked in the black hole and it's a major cliffhanger (and I just said that I won't be updating next weekend….i know I suck), but this is the end for part I. -w- Next chapter will be the beginning of part II so plz wait for me until I come back from that evil exam! (FYI, there are two parts to this story~).**


	14. Chapter 14

The puddle of water collected on the leaf slowly formed into a large clear orb and prepared itself to be dropped. Pulled by the gravity, the orb dived towards the ground and hit the soft white surface. Splashed by droplets of water, Alice moaned a little before she turned her body to the other side.

She could faintly smell the rain and feel the cold dampness of the air. It was not an uncomfortable feeling; Alice always liked the cool refreshing feeling of the wind that came along with the rain. She also liked to watch the scenery of the clouds rolling into the mountains and eventually hiding them, giving off a mysterious presence. Rain gave off a different appeal than the bright sun. The atmosphere was similar to Julius' silent yet calming nature.

Remembering Julius, Alice soon realized what happened just a few seconds a go and immediately sat up. Her clothes were all damp from the drizzle and she had leaves stuck in her hair. Looking down at her hands, she moved each of fingers as Alice sighed in relief that she still had her hands. She then looked around for Julius. According to her memories, she felt the tight protective warmth covering around her as she was sucked into the black hole. From her deduction, Julius hugged her in the short span of time and tried to protect her from the black hole.

"Julius?" A wavering voice shouted through the dark forest and eventually died down. Sucking in the air, Alice tried calling Julius one more time, but it was a failure. She waited to hear the familiar voice answering her call, but all she heard was the sound of the water hitting the ground and the occasional sound of the wind brushing the trees and bushes. Alice's head slowly moved down until she only saw her feet muddied with soft dirt and a wild flower growing beside the green grass.

After several moments, Alice gave out a stressful sigh that could have been mistaken as a shriek. She stomped her feet, crushing the wild flower and making her shoes even muddier. To a passing stranger, Alice looked like a mad patient escaping from one of the hospitals. However, to her, it was a reaction she had to take in order to stay sane.

_This is the third time I'm separated with Julius. THIRD. There must be a conspiracy for us to be separated so often. What; is somebody THAT unhappy about me staying by Julius' side? And it was just when we were officially recognized as couples!_

"Why do I always get separated with Julius, god dammit!" Alice kicked a nearby tree and tried to let out her built up frustration. Just when she was about go in for another kick, her feet slipped on the soft mud and fell down to her side. Falling down was annoying, but not the worst situation. As Alice was preparing for the fall she noticed something odd. There was no ground to where she was going to land on.

"Eh? KYAAAAA!" Popping her eyes out she immediately understood that she fell off a cliff and reached out to grab onto the cliff, but failed. Panicked, she shut her eyes and screamed.

Just then, she felt her hand caught by something and caused her whole body to dangle in the air. Surprised by shock, Alice looked up to see what had caught her and saw a figure of a man with cat ears and tails. His hair and clothes were a mix of vibrant colors of red and violet with a similar punk fashion as the other Chesire cats, but still different with a hooded jacket and chained necktie.

_Is it one of the Chesire cats' nature to have a punk look?_

Alice stared at the man's gold eyes until he pulled the foreigner and swung her on to where he was standing, the branch which was connected to the cliff. The thick branch could easily hold two people, but it did not mean that the grounds were flat and balanced. As soon as Alice was on top of the branch, she concentrated on balancing on the tree, but her stance was wobbly. It was only a matter of time until she slipped off the branch.

As if to save her for the second time, the Chesire cat lifted her up. His hands were firmly gripped around her back and legs as he saved her from the danger of falling. Alice sighed in relief and gratefully looked up to give her thanks, but stopped herself midway. She felt something on the area that should not have been felt.

Freezing, Alice moved her eyes to her breast. The man was caressing her chest and looked as if he was contemplating something, "Hm …. A49…."

There was no doubt he was touching Alice's boob and measuring her breast size. Her face instantly became hot as she pushed the man in front of her, "WHAT THE HE-!"

"Woa, calm down cutey. You're gonna drop dead if you fall down from here," the push didn't affect the man that much, but he loosened his grip on Alice.

"NKW%E$NWKS!" **(Author note: just random words that Alice is yelling out -_-) **Looking at the ground below, she felt her face become pale and tried her best not faint. It was inevitable to grab onto the Chesire cat's sleeve.

The man smiled creepily, "Now that's more like it. If you just stay still, you look really cute, you know."

"Just hurry up and let me down safely!" Still eyeing towards the ground which was 100 feet away from them, Alice's grip tightened. She had too many experiences of falling; it's a miracle that she was still alive.

Looking at the foreigner in a mischievously, moved his head to whisper in her ears, "I guess I can with a little reward." After saying this, the man swiftly kissed Alice's cheek.

Alice just opened her mouth blankly and stared at the man holding her. The kiss was so sudden that it took a few minutes for her to realize what just happened.

_Wait. Wait. What just happened? I came to a different time period, fell off a cliff, this man saved me and then….._

As if she was just splashed with cold water, a hit of realization came across Alice's face. "YOU-!" She tried to give a hard slap on the man's face, but before she could even try the hands that were around her dropped. Without anything to hold on to, Alice went straight down towards the solid ground.

The girl screamed with all her might. Alice Liddel, 16 years old girl from the well to do middle class family, was about to die by the hands of the crazy duplicitous bastard cat.

How would it feel like to drop straight down on the hard ground? Most probably the back bone will break along with that disgusting sound of the skull cracking. The organs cannot take on the hard pressure and will have a major internal bleeding. It will not just be a mere scratch. She would definitely die from this fall.

A tear escaped from the girls' aqua eyes. _I wanted to see Julius one more time…._

Just when she was thinking about Julius, the bastard, who just dropped Alice a few seconds a go, smiled at her and grabbed onto her waist. He, then, used one of the branches to soften the impact of landing and jumped gracefully on to the ground.

The Chesire cat laughed and exclaimed exhilaratingly, "Nice catch!"

Alice immediately pushed away the man. Whatever this Chesire cat was thinking, she didn't want to be involved with him anymore. The shock of falling made her legs weak as she sank down to the ground.

"Were you hurt, cutey?" The man smiled brilliantly as if he was a boy who just experienced his first ride on the roller coaster.

"Just….don't get….close to me…" Too tired to get angry, Alice sat on the ground and tried to recover from the mental shock.

"Aw that hurts my feeling, but can't help it if that's the princess' wish," turning away from Alice, the man nonchalantly walked into the dark woods.

"Oh wait! Where am I?" It was important to know where she was and what time period she was in. There was a possibility that Julius was in this period, plus she had to look for the other clock. Just remembering the existence of the clock, Alice's hand slid into her apron pocket and made sure the clock was still there.

_Even if this man was a bastard, he could at least answer this question. _Calming herself down, the girl's eyes stared straight at the man.

Putting his hands onto his lips, the man replied playfully, "That's gonna cost you another kiss."

"Never mind," narrowing her eyes into slits, Alice gave an immediate cold reply. _Correction, he's beyond a bastard, he's a f*cking as*hole. _Alice stood up from the ground and dusted off her apron.

"My name is Al the Chesire cat. I'll see you again cute little foreigner." Al grinned creepily at Alice as he skipped off into the woods. If possible, she never wanted to see him again.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Stupid disgusting cat. Where the hell is Julius anyways. This is so bull shi*," stomping through the forest, Alice's mind was in a maelstrom of chaos. As soon as she came to this time period her first kiss (on the cheek) was taken away by some random as*hole. At least it wasn't on her lips though; that would have definitely driven Alice mad.

"Umm, Miss?"

"What!" Breaking the branch next to her, the foreigner impulsively scowled at the unfamiliar boy.

The boy, who was a few inches shorter than Alice, was right behind her and smile. "Hello…my name is Blaze….you seemed troubled so I wanted to help you out….somehow…."

Alice could not tell whether Blaze was a faceless or a role holder because of his messy red hair covering most of his face. The clothes he wore were worn down and had mud all over his once white shirt. It seemed as if the boy needed help more than she did. Nonetheless, the brunette needed any form of help as she clasped his hand in gratefulness, "Thank you! I desperately need help!"

"That's goo-!"

"GYAHAHAHAHAHA! WooHOO!" A vicious, animalistic laughter of a man echoed into the gloomy forest as Alice and Blaze immediately turned their head towards the ominous sound.

A man with short white hair and a man with dark purplish black hair emerged from the direction Alice and Blaze had predicted. Although he was taller than Alice, the white haired man was considered below average for a man's height as he wore red suspenders and a matching neck tie. His jet black eyes and hard cold lips moved accordingly to form a fake smile, "My my what do we have here? A foreigner and a dirty looking boy- wait a minute you look-."

"What do you want! We are not your enemies!" Blaze stepped forward and moved next to Alice's side.

Contemplating for a while, the man looked at Blaze to decipher something, but soon turned away as if he lost interest, "Well obviously Cian is still hungry for more blood and I myself… did not get enough excitement and pain." Glancing at Cian, Alice suppressed her urge to gulp. This man called Cian had aggressive scarlet red eyes and his leather mauve colored coat was slightly disheveled. A purple cat like ear could be seen from time to time as he lowered his stance to an animalistic posture. He had streaks of blood splattered across his entire body. Anyone could tell, from one glance, that he was the type of guy who loved to kill. Staring at Cian for a long time, Alice forgot that they were still in middle of conversation.

"I forgot to introduce myself my name is Lance Humpty Dumpty and this is Cian the panther," Lance raised arm for a handshake and the foreigner hesitantly took the offer.

"My name is Alice…." It was the first time Alice heard of the role called Humpty Dumpty and panther. They were no doubt roleholders with roles which Alice never met before.

"This may sound out of the blue, but would you like to be my companion? You see, I'm looking for someone who can be my mutual companion to share equal pain and torture. I have a feeling that you can be my perfect partner to experience the ecstasy of pain," Lance fake smile widened a little more and Alice felt a shiver running across her spine.

"Sorry, but she has no interest in your affair. Moreover, it's not like you _absolutely need_ this girl, right?" before Alice could reply, Blaze answered for her and cautiously looked at the two men. His hand slid down to grab the girl's hand as he kicked the soft dirt towards Lance's face. At the same time, he took out a smoke bomb and through it towards the ground.

"Run!" Pulling Alice's hand, Blaze made a run to escape from Lance and Cian. The girl's feet moved instantly as they dashed through the forest.

_Was it just me or….was there a figure lunging for Cian?_

It was just a second, but Alice saw a black shadow diving towards the panther, who was about to attack Blaze.

"HaHAhAHAHa!" The ominous laughter could still be heard as Alice realized her cold sweat sliding down to her eyes. If she was captured by those two, she will be killed.

Making a little clucking sound with his tongue, Blaze suddenly stopped running and stared at the direction they have past. He let Alice's hand go and said in a serious tone, "….it doesn't seem like we can outrun them like this…."

Catching her breath, the foreigner looked at the boy wearily. Blaze had already done so much for her. She couldn't afford him to be killed by those two murderers. "Blaze it's alright-" A sudden dull pain hit the back of her skull as Alice fell down.

Through her hazy conscious, Blaze smiled evilly and whispered softly into her ear, "Goodnight Alice."

Wishing to wake up from this bad dream soon and meet with Julius, Alice's mind soon went black.

**Yes I'm evil. I separated Julius and Alice again. -u- …..I'm sorry for the ppl who thought they would be reunited! Well, I thought they would be together too, but I ended up being mean to Alice x3 But don't lose hope Alice! I'm sure someday you will be with Julius again (lol).**


	15. Chapter 15

**Happy New Years! xD Yes, yes I'm one of those ppl who is staying at home watching Lady Gaga and others perform on TV. Not particularly doing anything but typing this chapter until midnight and finally updating it becuz that's how I celebrate new years. Welcome 2012! -w-**

"_Ms. Liddell." A low pitched voice called out to the two girls in the garden. Alice and her dear older sister, Lorina lifted their head to meet the young man. His lean figure, almost identical to the Hatter family boss, bowed over to greet the ladies._

_Alice stood up in excitement to see her lover, but soon sat back down noticing Lorina's eyes telling her to act more lady-like. After making sure her little sister was sitting nicely, she turned her attention to the tutor and asked, "Yes, Erik? Which Liddell are you talking to?"_

_Lifting his head up, Erik stared at the older woman, "If I may be straightforward, I am requesting for Lorina's accompany." It was evident in his eyes that he was infatuated with the elegant and graceful woman. However, Lorina had a blank expression on her face and seem to not notice the love in his eyes._

"_Oh, not Alice?" She raised an eyebrow as to what the man needed her for as she saw the man nod his head._

"_Yes, I am sorry Ms. Alice, I am taking away your sister for a little while," he offered a hand to Lorina as she took it almost naturally and stood up from the ground._

_The younger girl pursed her lip a little, but quickly turned into a smile and waved at her tutor and sister, "I do not mind. Please, go ahead….Mr. Collins." Lorina looked at Alice one more time before turning around to follow Erik._

_On the surface, Alice looked as if she was completely indifferent and nonchalant, but in the inside she was crying in tears. Why was it that Erik called her sister and not her? Why did they call each other's names so casually? Why is it that Erik always call her name in a formal way?_

_She tried to calm herself. Telling herself that they were just having their usual conversation. Even if Erik was not beside her most of the time, that did not fade away their love for each other. Her breathing became drastic and almost suffocating. The next thing she noticed, she saw Erik looking at her way with a stoned expression. Slowly his figure turned into Julius and he had a similar expression on his face. His mouth opened and a tone that was close to hatred spoke out to the girl, "You are not fit to be my lover. From the way you are always away from me, I do not see enough devotion or love in you. Goodbye Alice."_

_His every word stabbed Alice straight to her heart and she could almost imagine them breaking apart. She tried to get up and run to Julius' side. Tell him to wait and she did not mean to leave him. Giving her last desperate scream she looked at the fading figure swallowed into the darkness._

Swiftly opening her eyes, Alice shivered and had cold sweat running down her body. The first thing she saw was sky blue pupils reflecting herself. The sight was unnatural as her defense went up and gripped her fist to punch square in the man's face.

"Oof!" His head faced the ceiling as his body collapsed to the ground and laid there unmoved. Inspecting the man for a moment, his long hair was chocolate brown and tied into a pony tail. He had a lean yet firm figure and a sword beside him, but his attire looked as if he was a priest. Alice wasn't too sure if he hit him too hard, but she was sure she didn't have that much of a monstrous strength to kill a man with a single punch.

Noticing her surrounding for the first time, she noticed numbers of red heart shaped motifs in the room and made her remember the castle of Hearts. No, she should assume that she was in castle of Hearts. Moving the sheet that was covering her to the side, Alice looked at her clothes and found herself not in her damp usual apron dress, but in a striking red dress laced with black frill and small black hearts intricately designed to match the fabric. Grimacing how adorably cute the attire was, she silently pushed the complaints of impracticability and non-efficiency to the back of her mind and walked to the door.

Hoping to find someone and explain the situation she was in, she gripped the door and walked out the room only to meet a man roughly around 6 feet tall with silver hair and dark spring green eyes. The white rabbit ears twitched a little and curiously bent over towards the girl. Staring at each other for odd silent second, Alice widened her eyes when the man suddenly sprayed blood from his nose.

"GYAAAAA!" She immediately backed away from the man and looked at him with disgust.

_What is this? Nose bleed? But why?_

The man was holding a handkerchief to his nose and was equally shocked and bewildered by this whole predicament.

Having hell of a nightmare, waking up and first finding a man invading too much of her personal space, and now running into a man with nosebleed. If anything, this time period was already giving her a bad first impression. Alice slowly turned her shock into anger as she shouted, "What's wrong with this place, dammit!"

The man turned his head to face the girl and retorted, "You're the one who has problems! Whenever I see you-" Another spray of blood blasted from his nose and made a huge bloody mess in the doorway. The area looked as if a brutal massacre had happened.

"Arg!" The man was staggering and shifted his body against the wall to support his weight. He, then, drag himself to walk towards where Alice was.

The foreigner slowly backed away half in disgust and half in fear of what might the man do. Eventually hitting the wall, Alice had nowhere to escape. The rabbit man was inches away from her and although he facing the ground, this did not mean that she was not in danger of getting covered with nosebleeds.

Alice gulped at the fearful possibility and watched as the man rummaged something from his jacket and raised his arm to give it to her.

Alice blinked at the object given to her asked in obvious confusion, "A….mask of a Namahage*****?" She raised her brow and wanted to ask the man, who was still facing the ground, why he would give her the most random thing.

He only replied irritably and shoved the mask in Alice's hand, "Just hurry up and put this on!"

_This is worse than Nightmare coughing up blood…._

Sighing, Alice listened to what the man said and put the mask on, "I put it on."

"Good," he lifted his head up to meet Alice's masked face and sighed in relief, "I won't have to deal with that damn nosebleed anymore. Arg, why do I have to meet with a woman who gives me nosebleed?"

Alice narrowed her eyes, "Are you saying that those nosebleeds are my fault?" After all, she didn't want to be accused of giving a nosebleed to a total stranger. She wasn't even naked or tried to act in any way that made the man hyper! If anything, she expected to have an apology for almost spraying blood all over her body.

"Yeah, how else can you explain this unnatural nosebleed? Whenever I see your face, disaster happens."

Just when she was about to speak, the man, who Alice knocked down moments a go, suddenly sprang up and knelt before her while grabbing her hand, "The knight has awaken! This burning sensation along with tingling effects on this knight's face reflect his heart and soul. I take this honor to heart and let me serve milady from now on 'till the end of time. Yes, until the time when the angel Gabriel blows his trumpet and the apocalypse come to judge us!" Finishing his last sentence, the knight kissed Alice's hand, making a loud noise to add the effect.

Alice couldn't stop her twitching and continued to stare at the man kneeling before her in perfect bliss. In a sense, this was much worse than Peter White confessing his love to her.

Moving mechanically, her eyes moved to make an eye contact with the white rabbit, "Hey….is this guy, ok?"

Giving another sigh, the rabbit grabbed Alice's hand and led her away from the self proclaiming knight, "Yeah he's alright. Forget about that psycho and come with me."

"To where?"

"The queen's throne room."

***Namahage mask- I'm not too sure how many ppl know about Namahage, but it is part of Japanese tradition in New Years (figured that since it's New Years, might as well celebrate it like this :D** **) Namahage is Japanese ritual which is observed in northern Honshū, Japan. It is said to have originated as a ritual for cleansing people's souls, and for blessing the New Year.** **The annual ritual takes place on the December 31st. Dozens of young single men (traditionally) from various regions in Akita Prefecture, Japan dress like the Namahage demon to warn and scare the children to not do any bad things.**

**Sources taken from Wikipedia (not the best source I know -_-). For more descriptions, best to look it up online (I'm sure there are tons).**

**A lot of new characters are coming out and some of them are weird….. I don't know how I can make all of this up, seriously….. Well I will be describing and introducing (I didn't even let them tell their name!) on the next chapter. See ya!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter was beta by Randomness is Bliss! Thank you very much for making this chapter better. I tried to correct the mistakes and, for once in my life, I have a decent grammar mistake free chapter! TTwTT **

Eli White stomped angrily through the grand hallway of the Castle of Hearts. His pure white rabbit ears twitched every so often and his fists were clenched tightly, allowing a mark settle in his palm. The mere thought of walking next to this foreigner gave him a shiver. He was having a bad day and will continue as long as the girl was anywhere near him.

Aliceeyed the White Rabbit cautiously. She wasreluctant at firstin following the man to the queen's throne room. She knew Eli was cranky and he obviously disliked her. The earlier agitation she felt back in the bedroom completely faded away as she realized that being with the bloodyrabbitwas somehow refreshing. From her past encounters, Alice only met with either hormone-crazed or sneaky, tactical males. A man, who openly showed hatred towards her, was rare.

Amused with her own thought process, Alice slowly opened her mouth and asked, "Um….what should I call you?"

The brunette was sure she heard the word 'annoying' muttered softly as Eli replied curtly, "You can just call me Eli, little girl."

"I'm Alice and I will make sure to call you by your name next time, nose bleeding rabbit-san," Alice just ignored the low hiss coming from the man and continued walking down the path. Amused as she was with Eli's behavior, she was not going to let him boss her around. In fact, that was the last thing she wanted. She was already in a pretty messed up situation and there was no need to make it worse.

Without making any other conversation, Alice let her eyes wander around the luxurious surroundings, despite the fact that the castle was adorned with heart motifs, there were still different features from what she was used to seeing. The patterns were flamboyantly embellished across the hall and were accentuated with a deep maroon and orange with occasional golden outline. The color reminded her of the fiery flames as she wondered what the queen of hearts looked like. Whoever it was, she had a better taste than Vivaldi's fairy tale designs.

Alice nodded to the faceless servants, passing by, and soon noticed a figure running up to them_._ Squinting, she soon realized that it was the crazy man with the ridiculous priest attire. She momentarily shifted her gaze to Eli as he groaned, but resumed to looking at the priest-looking knight now in front of her.

He bowed his head demurely as he started with his babble, "Forgive this sinful knight for not introducing himself earlier. It is a shame to admit that this knight was entranced by milady's grace. This knight has taken his time to fully regain his gallantry act of responsibility. It can be guaranteed with the oath from the high heavens for the muses descended from one of the holy mountains have called this knight and accepted its holy blessings. The name is Father Roland, the humble queen's Knight and it is a pleasure to serve milady."

Alice tried her best not to smack Roland once more. She could only understand half of what the psycho was talking about and it was driving her crazy. Struggling to smile, she barely made the frown tug upwards while making an awkward reply, "Uh, it's also a pleasure to meet you, Father Roland."

Just when Roland was about to open his mouth to make another frivolous reply, Eli glanced irritatingly at his fellow resident and cut in, "What are you following us for? We obviously don't need two full grown men to escort a little girl."

"Ah, but it's the knight's duty to escort milady. Especially if its to our queen's throne room," Roland smiled pleasantly as he looked at the confused girl for a while before staring back at Eli. "But then again, it's a wonder if this knight should have more thought toward his friend and be left alone with milady."

"What do you mean?" Alice slightly tilted her head to the side and watched Eli growl in disgust.

"It has truly been a long time ever since my dear friend had a nosebleed. Almost felt as if I haven't seen them since when the first wonderful miracles of creation had happened. You see, this knight and Eli are childhood friends ever since we were mere faceless children and, as far as this knight can remember, my dear rabbit only getsnosebleeds when he meets with a girl he likes."

Anyone could tell what the foreigner was thinking as her eyes widened in disbelief. _Impossible. _Was Eli's hostility just another form of showing affections to the beloved foreigner? She continued to stare at Eli as he seethed, "Shut. Up!" He narrowed his eyes and looked as if what Roland had said was utter blasphemy, "Are you telling me that I like this midget here? 'Cause I think you really need see the doctor soon to check up on your brain. Just get fixed with that lover thought along with your_ahem_'religion'".

Honestly, Eli did not know why he hated the foreigner this much. Hell, he did go through the damn nosebleed, but he also knew that it was not on purpose. Looking at Alice his stare turned into a glare as he frowned. Something about her just…. irked him. Roland must have had the wrong assumption when he said that Eli liked Alice. When he used to be a faceless, snot-nosed kid he, indeed, used to have nosebleeds around the girls he had a crush on. However, none of them put him in such a_…_. foul mood. Therefore, it must not be his fault; _she_ was the one who had problems. It did not matter if it was not intentional, it was her fault and that was definite.

"Nothing is wrong with this knight's religion. Now if my fellow friend is telling me to convert the doctor into one of our companions of faith, then this knight is more than happy to do the honor." Stomping his foot, Roland's eyes sparkledin excitement, "That's right it's a _wonderful_ idea! This knight will promise, under the oath of our beloved God, to invite the doctor to the wondrous journey of our faith after our visit with the queen." Eli just shook his head and sighed at the failure of an attempted insult while Alice quirked her eyebrow, "Care to tell me what you hate about me, when I haven't done anything to you?"

Eli immediately scowled at the girl and bellowed, "Everything!"

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Eli still muttered bitterly about Roland's 'insane' remark as he opened the door to the queen's throne room. Alice instinctively sucked the air and held it in. Taking a small step inside the grand room, her eyes naturally went up to the where the queen sat in her throne. Her eyes widened at the sight. There a boy, not much younger than Alice, with fiery bright red hair and startling blood red eyes, sitting on the queen's throne. His blood red eyesmoved impassively toward the girl and spoke in a confident tone, "Welcome to our abode, the Castle of Hearts. We are Blaze, the queen of Hearts."

The strict tension heightened Alice's nervous feeling as she struggled to reply politely, "H-hello my name is Alice Liddel, your majesty." The girl bowed once and soon lifted her head up to meet the boy's gaze. Blaze continued to silently observe Alice with his cold unreadable expression. Similarly, Alice stared at the boy's face with a rising sense of familiarity. She could not quite understand why she felt like she had met him before. The only other seemingly familiar figure she encountered was the boy she met back in the woods; the one who had the same name as the queen of Hearts. However, this was almost near to impossible. It was hard to imagine a boy dressed in tattered, dirty clothing to be the same person as the elegant, androgynous queen.

_And why is the queen a boy anyway?_

Alice thought for a while before asking the person in question, "May I ask if we have met before?"

Blaze lowered his shoulders a bit and quirked his eyes, "We can see that this girl is as stupid as that attire she is wearing. Thy don't remember us meeting at the woods?"

"You're….that Blaze?" The foreigner had to blink twice to register that fact. Sure….if he just ruffled his hair and tore off one of his expensive clothes and dumped in the mud, he would look just like the Blaze she used know in the woods, but… why would he have to do that in the first place? He was, after all, the almighty queen of Hearts; the fearless roleholder who does as they like solely for their self pleasure and satisfaction.

Self-pleasure. The word tugged on the girl's mind. Maybe, just _maybe_disguising himself was hobby?

Frowning, she raised her head and asked once again, "Um….is your hobby to disguising yourself?"

The queen's stiff lips twitched in slight displeasure, "….Dost thou honestly think that disguise is our hobby? Dressing up as one of those rat-like commoners? Moreover dressing up is the least thing we would want to do. Those foolish rich girls, who cling on to us like we are their pets, have the hobby to dress up. Art thou telling us that we are like them? That we are a _girl_?"

Looking at Blaze being more crazy and psychotic by the second, Alice shook her head and tried to deny the accusation, "N-No, not a gi-."

Swiftly, a dark, sharp metal cut the air and pointed a mere inch away from the foreigner's neck. Blaze held the menacingly dark scythe and smiled madly, wiping off the phlegmatic expression on his face, "Hm, we wonder what will happen with thy head if thy mention the word 'girl'? We personally do not mind if that pretty little neck would be covered with blood." The voice was cold with searing edge, almost making everyone in the room shiver with its sharp tone.

The cold blade transferred its temperature to the brunette, threatening and showing its bloodlust to the trembling prey. Alice gulped and spoke fearfully, "I-I-I'm sorry! You're a boy! One-hundred percent boy!"

"Indeed, you incompetent fool," Blaze scoffed in a lighter tone, but he never took his hand off of his scythe. Instead, his grip tightened and the blade was pressed closer, nicking the soft white skin and drawing a trinket of blood from Alice's neck. The dark blood eventually stained her collar with a small red spot.

Alice widened her eyes in panic and silently screamed for her dear life.

Just when she thought the pressure on her neck was getting stronger, a metal sound clashed and echoed throughout the room. Eli raised his gun to push Blaze's scythe to the side. Never taking his eyes off the scythe, the rabbit spoke coolly, "Blaze, I think she's talking about the time when you were in the forest. I know you're aggravated because of your piling work, but refrain from killing the foreigner we finally attained."

A long silence filled the air as a painfully long minute ticked away before Blaze grunted and returned to his bored facade lowering his scythe, "Tch, fine then; we were only fooling around..." Alice had the urge to sink into the ground, but was too frozen from shock and fear to move as she just stood there with her hand touching her slightly injured neck. Cold sweat broke out from her forehead and her teal eyes widened in trepidation.

_THAT was fooling around? It looked like he was trying to kill me!_

It took more than a few deep breaths to shake off the 'playful' threaten as Alice warily looked at Blaze.

The red haired boy rested his head on his hand, leaning onto the throne with a uncaring demeanor, "Concerning the disguise…" He flicked his eyes to the window behind the girl, frowning at something that was not in the room, "Thy may not have realized, but back in the woods everyone was aiming to acquire you. So our only way to acquire thy while having minimal damage was for us to disguise ourself as a normal faceless boy."

"Everyone?"

Blaze sighed and shook his head in annoyance, "Thy have no idea how dangerous this country of Heart is right now." His eyes burned in hatred and abhorrence, making Alice gulp. Whoever angered this terrifying queen was going to see hell.

Straightening her posture, she asked, "Dangerous?"

Looking back at her, Blaze nodded his head, "Thy art foreign to this world so we may need to explain our current situation."

**Srry for the late update! Well so…. I was finally able to introduce the new characters!**

**Some things to be cleared up: **

**Father Roland is the Knight of Hearts and does NOT practice Christianity. It sounds like he does, but he doesn't…. well I guess he practices a religion similar to Christianity. The only reason why I chose him not to be a Christian was because it would be too complicated to display the accuracy of the religion with his "overly religious" characteristic. He thinks that Eli is one of his "faithful" companions and Blaze is the next "holy" being beside God. And Roland's "God" is…. I honestly don't know an invisible person? And please just ignore half of what he's saying. It is meant to be confusing.**

**And lastly, Blaze the queen of Hearts! Some people may think why the queen of Hearts is a boy, but this will be explained later on in the story. Also, the king of Hearts is not in the throne room (and its not just because it's the queen's throne room) because…well that will be explained in the next chapter so wait 'till then ;)**


	17. Chapter 17

Blaze sighed and said, "Thy art foreign to this world, therefore, a thorough explanation will be granted to thee."

After saying this, he motioned his hand towards Eli. The Prime Minister nodded his head in reply and turned to look at Alice, "Allow me to explain it."

All the attention was on the white rabbit. Coughing slightly, Eli's voice was devoid of any emotion as he explained instructively, "Just a few time periods ago, the castle of Hearts reigned over the entire territory: Amusement Park, the Clock Tower, and the Hatter Family's Territory. However, suddenly a huge clock appeared in the woods. From within the clock, few people claimed to represent the Duchess and created havoc in Wonderland. We have sent ambushes to defeat the Duchess, but to no avail. Not missing this chance, the other territories started to rebel against our reign. Now the lands are broken apart."

"Fie! Commoners call this blasphemous predicament as the Break Away. How preposterous! How dare they think that they can do whatever they want," an annoyed and slightly frustrated voice echoed throughout the throne room. Alice gulped and felt her body tense and her knees locked into place. Everything seemed to be so dark, so ominous, and she didn't doubt that it was coming from the crimson queen.

As if to break the binding spell on Alice, Roland exclaimed nonchalantly, "It is truly unforgivable to defy god's will, your majesty! Surely it is god's will for your majesty to rule the entire territory once again. Those who disobey Him will be thrown in the pits of endless fire and they shall rot in hell! Yes, just as many past sinners have defied god! Your majesty, this knight will do anything to please you and god for an entire lifetime and punish those sinners severely."

Blaze sighed again and waved off his knight in resignation, "Oh yes, yes. Do as thy wish." A clear sign to show that even the queen couldn't quite understand what his knight was saying.

Ignoring the other occupants in the room, Eli continued on with his explanation, "In our world, foreigners appear only when Wonderland is in need. Foreigners bring fortune to the territories they are residing in, whether that is good luck, brains, or something else. Because of this, all the roleholders want the foreigner to reside in their territories. Perhaps, you were brought here to set the loose screws back into place and once again bring peace to this world."

Alice tilted her head in confusion. When she first arrived to Wonderland, Nightmare had told her that everyone would come to love her. However, he never mentioned about this new bit of information. Perhaps, somehow the role of foreigners changed as time passed? Pursing her lip, she didn't like the fierce expectant look on Blaze's eyes, "But….I'm just a girl. I can't do something outrageous like bring peace or something."

"However, you, a foreigner is standing here. That already proves your existence and your abnormality. You _are_ special and this uniqueness of yours will definitely benefit His majesty. So whether you like it or not, you will be staying here with us."

Alice was about to protest to Eli's statement when the queen's cold voice cut her off, "This meeting is finished. Thy art dismissed 'til further ado." By the finality of the voice, Alice knew she couldn't speak any further without risking her own life and was somberly escorted out of the throne room.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Finally releasing the tense muscles in her shoulders, Alice looked at Eli silently walking toward her assigned room, "So….what am I supposed to do while I'm waiting for Blaze to call?"

As if he had heard of this inquiry a thousand times, Eli let out a heavy sigh before replying, "You heard him. Just _wait._"

This obviously annoyed her. Not only does this ill-mannered man act like he is dealing with something troublesome, but she also has absolutely nothing to do. When Alice was still living with Julius in the Clock Tower, she also worked by cooking and doing the laundry. She was told by Julius that she didn't need to work or help him out, but her ego told her to do something, anything to be useful. Now she was going to apply the same thing while she stayed in the Heart Castle.

"That's a brilliant reply. Isn't there something I can do? Like cleaning or doing the laundry? I can't do anything grand, but maybe I can organize some paperwork too. Blaze seemed like he was busy himself with those papers." Her thoughts wandered to the teenage boy having a big frown upon his handsome face while staring at the stack of paper works. Somehow, Alice felt sorry for him. Well, despite his "lack of mercy" that is. He didn't seem to be enjoying his adolescence and was constantly cooped up in that hell hole. It was a matter of time before he would get sick from overwork. In that sense, Blaze seemed more like Julius.

"Well he is. Ever since he became the queen of hearts, there were movements of getting rid of the royalty all together." Alice looked at the man questioningly. Seeing the spirit of inquiry in her eyes, Eli merely shook his head. Whether in disappointment or resignation, Alice wasn't sure.

"You see; it's unheard of having a boy as the queen of hearts. Usually roleholders are picked with characteristics similar to the role. Nobody wants to be ruled over a kid who is just terrifically abnormal. That's why the territories are split."

It was strange to have a young boy as a queen, but it stilled puzzled the foreigner as she asked, "Why was Blaze hailed as a queen then?"

Eli opened his mouth to speak, but soon reluctantly closed it. Ultimately, sealing his lip and locking his jaw firmly. After a pregnant silence, he spoke in a solemn tone, "…..That's for another time. If I tell you right now, I'll have my head cut offed."

Alice merely tilted her head in puzzlement, but did not ask any more questions. Thinking of Blaze, she didn't want Eli to be killed because of her, no matter how unpleasant he was.

Stopping short, Eli opened one of the door and let Alice walk into the room. The assigned room was identical to many of the guest rooms in the Heart Castle, with intricately designed wall patterns and furnishes. After he closed the door, he turned to face Alice and spoke quietly, "I'll give advices if you want to survive here."

Although he spoke softly, Alice knew better than taking his words lightly. It was something about his eyes that made her listen without any ignorance, "One, don't mention the word 'girl' or other girly stuff. Two, don't talk about the king of hearts in front of Blaze. Three, I don't think people from other territories will hurt you because you're special, but just stay away from Duchess. They are crazy psycho and worse than Roland. Four, NEVER take off that mask in front of me or else I will nosebleed." Eli gave his most serious expression for his last statement, as if it was the direst of all the advices. Of course, Alice had covered her face securely with the given mask. It was not one of those ridiculous masks Eli gave her at their first encounter, but instead Blaze gave her a new one. According to him, the mask was just too distracting to talk about anything serious. The new mask had a simple design, a smooth white surface with only the red heart on the left cheek with golden lacing to accentuate the plain mask. It was a much better design than the previous one and the brunette was thankful for finally getting rid of the retched thing.

"Now any questions?"

Questions were exactly what she had in her messed up head. Actually she can bombard with millions of questions from just off the top of her head. However, Eli's abrupt manner from the previous conversation of "Blaze hailed as a queen," she knew that she couldn't ask too much. She tried to choose wisely from her lists of questions and decided to start off with something immediate, "Why can't I mention about the king of hearts to Blaze?"

"I'm not too sure about the detail either, but apparently there was a rumor going around saying that the king and queen were in love with each other. Blaze tried to ignore for a while, but you know how he is a little sensitive to the feminine side. So on one sunny day Blaze walked up to the king and killed him with his scythe. The end."

Alice gulped and said, "So….every time there is a new king of hearts….."

"A death sentence." The room temperature seemed to decrease quite a bit as none of them said a word. On the foreigner's part, it was from trepidation and also from total shock. On the white rabbit's part, it was just to fix his coat and look at the time from his pocket.

After checking the time, Eli turned around to leave the room. "Even with these advice, the queen is a quick tempered person so I suggest you to stay in your room quietly if you value your life," said the white haired man as he turned the door knob and left Alice in the locked room.

**Hi I'm back from the virtual death. Sorry for taking up a suuuuper long vacation, but I enjoyed it. TwT Ok sorry really I know I was too lazy to type and somehow...it became this long. Thank you crazzy2000 for reminding me!**


	18. Chapter 18

The antique long-case clock sat there with its lavishly decorated frame. The long-hand inched its way towards the pinnacle of the clock. With a booming noise, the device let Alice know that it was twelve in the midnight. Warm ray of sunlight flooded the room as if it was twelve in the noon. In actuality, it did not matter if it was twelve in the noon or in the midnight. It did not matter if it was three o'clock in the morning or in the afternoon, not to her, not to anybody living in wonderland.

Nobody seemed to care what time it was. People would only glance at its mere presence and walk away as if they saw nothing. The clock seemed to be just a decoration, yet it held a powerful symbol. It held the symbol of order and rules, symbol of life and death, and symbol of roles and destiny. It held so much meaning than just having the purpose to tell time.

It was the essence of wonderland and the purpose for which Julius existed.

Sighing, Alice got off the comfy bed and wandered a few paces before stopping at the door, the only exit in the room. How many times had she stood in this same spot? How many times was she going to repeat the same thing? Raising her hand to the door handle she turned it in a feeble attempt. Indeed, how feeble it was. The door wouldn't budge even an inch.

Ever since Eli locked her up, she had tried many methods in order to get out of this extravagant cell. She had pounded the door, shouted like a recalcitrant madman, and flung the chair against the poor door. She even tried underhanded methods such as using bobby pins to try and open the door. None of them worked, not even a scratch.

Giving up the idea of getting out through the door, Alice sighed once more and said wearily, "I feel like a prisoner." Nobody listened to her tired statement as silence responded instead. Of course, the foreigner did not expect to get an answer from someone. She just needed a breather from the pent up stress.

If she had her way, she would already be in the forest, looking for Julius and the other clock. He might be residing in other territories, trying to look for her as well. Then they will look for the clock, fix it, and get the hell back to their original time period. She was not supposed to be locked up like this. Not like an overthrown royalty waiting for the punishment in a rich looking room, never knowing if the punishment is torture or death.

At least she was not thrown into a dungeon. She was treated like a princess with mouth-watering food, exquisite looking bath, and soft silky fabric for the bed. However, a prisoner was a prisoner. There was no use sugarcoating the situation if Alice could do nothing, but sleep and stare at the patterns on the wall.

"Well, I can always go through the window…." Alice immediately approached the window and looked outside. "…..Maybe not."

The height from the room to the ground was unusually high. She could see the faceless servants as specks and could also oversee the forest beyond the maze garden. It was impossible to simply jump out of the window and climb down to the ground. She was surely going to die if she ever tried that.

Wracking her brain to come up with a feasible plan, Alice groaned in frustration, "I can't just stay here and do nothing!" What she was doing was purely unproductive and she hated to just stand around like a damsel in distress.

Suddenly the lights within the room flickered out and the pitch blackness invaded the room. The daylight from the outside disappeared in an instant and Alice froze in surprise. Turning from day to night was usual occurrence for her; however, it was strange that the light in the room also went out. It was as if somebody was making preparations for a raid.

A sudden dark presence crept behind Alice and before she could turn to face the intruders, she was tied down to the bed. Unable to move because of the strong force pushing her down, she open her mouth to question, "W…ho-"

Her voice was muffled by a large hand, making her panic and struggle even more. She kicked and thrashed around to no avail. The intruder, who was holding her down, was turning all her efforts into naught.

The man leaned closer to her. Alice felt a soft silky texture of the man's hair sliding over to her shoulder as well as the familiar musky scent of coffee. They were so close to each other now that the girl could feel the man's body temperature warming her cheek. Lowering his head, the intruder whispered into her ear, "Don't scream."

Alice shivered by the tone of the voice. It sounded both cold and off-handed. Something was odd about this situation… The voice sounded so familiar….

"Julius?" Seeing that Alice was not struggling anymore, the hand which was around her mouth was released. However, her hand was still tied down and she still was not able to move around as she liked. Her emerald eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness before her and confirmed that it was indeed Julius who was tying her down.

To summarize his current expression, there was only one word that described it, odd. His eyes were cold and distant, but his cheek was tinted pink as if he was blushing a few minutes ago. His lip was closed shut, forming a thin line. His jaw shifted around to reveal that he was chewing the inside of his cheek.

Why was he here? Did he come to save her? Why was he giving her such a weird expression? Questions bombarded her mind as she couldn't quite grasp the state she was in.

Just when she was about to voice out her thought, another man came up to the couple and grinned with his traditional Cheshire cat smile, "Don't forget about your princely cat in shining armor, cutey!"

It took her a few minutes to recognize the man next to her. Al, the perverted bastard Cheshire cat who stole her kiss! Remembering the unpleasant memory, Alice jolted noticeably and exclaimed, "Why are you h-!"

Al swiftly placed his fingers on Alice's lip and gestured to stop talking, "Tut. Tut. Impatient are we, cutey? We can take as much time later, but not now. Hold on tight and try not to make any sound alright?"

The brunette suppressed her urge to exasperate as she was pulled away from Al and into Julius' arm. She was instantly lifted from the ground and was carried towards the window. She confusedly observed the situation and felt something bad about to happen, "What is happen-!" They fell from the window; just what she thought she will never do.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Stacks of paper flooded the room, leaving absolutely no space for extra people to sit down and relax. Documents were scattered beyond the limits of disarray and it seemed impossible to clean the room. In the middle of all this mess was the queen of Hearts, scribbling paper after paper. His indifferent expression seemed as if he did not mind the paperwork at all, but that could have been further from the truth.

Eli entered the room, carrying whole new stack of paper and set it on top of Blaze's desk. Blaze's hand which was holding the pen stopped immediately and his eyes twitched in irritation. If it was any faceless, they would be cowering behind the stacks of paper to try and hide themselves. However, Eli was not a faceless and he simply ignored the heated glare coming from his majesty. Still, this did not stop from Blaze to growl at the white rabbit, "How impudent! Thou art planning an assassination with these papers?!"

"Your majesty, if I may be so bold to tell you this that I am simply doing my part as the minister of the Castle of Hearts."

Blaze sneered, "Beware of your conceitedness as you might regret displaying insolence towards your superior."

Eli suppressed the urge to sigh. He wasn't fazed by the queen's threaten at all, but it would be bothersome to deal with Blaze's rage any further. Surely he would have to deal with dozens of assassins in the next few days. "Your majesty, maybe you should take a break for a while."

Blaze sighed wearily and pointed towards the piles of paper, "Would that make these wretched things disappear? However, it is indeed time to go inspect the roses… Eli, prepare for the -."

The red haired boy sat up straight and hardened his flaming eyes. Eli knew that something was up as he questioned, "Your majesty?

"….Intruders infiltrated the castle from the west walls. It's that damn cat and…. an unknown man. He looks unfamiliar, but seems very well like a roleholder…. Hurry and send the soldiers after them." Eli's face immediately darkened as he bowed his head and left the room.

Blaze just watched the door close and smirked. Things were finally starting to get interesting.

xoxoxoxoxo

What were those men here for? It was just plain ridiculous to think that the intruders could break into the castle and leave without having to risk their lives. It was especially because Blaze, like any other territory owners, could detect any movements within their territory. Who knows maybe his majesty already trapped them in a room.

Eli shook his head. No, if Blaze did that then he wouldn't order him to send the soldiers. He was probably enjoying this amusement as long as he could before resuming to his mundane work again. Nonetheless, it was a suicidal attempt.

_Infiltrated the castle from the west wall….._

Eli narrowed his eyes and broke into a sprint. West wall was where Alice stayed. Something ominous was filling his thought and he couldn't shake off the feeling of insecurity. He only prayed that nothing troublesome happened to that annoying foreigner.

**To state a few reminders: Territory owners have few privileges that can be advantageous. They have the power to detect see each person's action and are able to banish, lock them, or other stuff (I honestly don't know) if they want to. That's why Blaze was able to know that Al and Julius breaking into the castle.**


End file.
